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THE NEBRASKA ADVERTISER
W. W. 8ANDKKS, TublUher.
NEMAHA, NEBRASKA.
SPRING GLEANING.
An to Valuable IIlntM for Itctiovntlntr
Old ami Soiled Article.
An efficient and economical house
wife will nhviiys welcome suggestions
in matters of cleanliness and renova
tion. To begin with, thu best cleanser
cl lialr brushes is spirits of ammonia
und warm water. Take a tnblespoon
ful of ammonia to a quart of water,
clip the bristles up and down in the wa
ter without wetting tho back of tho
brush, and rinso in clean warm water,
then shake well and dry in the air, but
not in the sun. Soap and soda soften
tho bristles and will turn an ivory
backed brush yellow, so in the case of
-the latter the following treatment is
Tecomniended: Hub plenty of Hour well
in, wrap up in paper, and leave all night,
give a good shaking and remote tho
remaining Hour by blowing tho brush.
All brushes and combs should bu kept
in the dressing case, or in a bag made
for tho purpose, when not in use, so
.as to keep them us much as possible
irom the dust. Ivory that has beeomo
jellow from ago or usage may bo
whitened by a good rubbing with fine
sandpaper or moist powdered pumice
fctonc.
Glass which has become dull may
Le brought back to its original bright
ness by washing with diluted hydro
chloric acid and afterward rubbing
with moist chalk or whiting.
Marble may be cleansed with com
mon dry salt, which requires no prepa
ration, but may bo rubbed directly in
the soiled surlace, leaving tho marble
beautifully clean. Alabaster may be
Iwashcd with soapsuds. If stained,
whitewash the Blains, and let it remain
for several hours, then clean it oil'. Take
ithe finest quality of ground pumice
stone and mix it with verjuice; let it
stand two hours; then take a spongo
and rub the alabaster with the mix
ture. Wush it with a linen cloth and
ifresh water, and dry it with clean linen
xags.
i Ormolu articles and trimmings of
ifurnituro should be washed with plain
&oap and water and polished with cham
ois leather. To clean brass and copper
& mixture of oil and rotten stone ap
plied with a piece of leather and then
UMibbed bright with clean chamois skin
,will give a beautiful polish. Furniture
ito be polished should be washed with
jfioap and wnter, little by little, and each
'little quickly dried. Afterward the
cream should be applied. Here are two
ood recipes: Boil quickly in a gallon
of water one pound of becswux, four
tounces of soft soap and two ounces of
ipcurl ash. The second, which should
'be made at least a day before it is used,
lis compounded by melting together at a
jgentlo heat eight parts of white wax,
two of resin and a half pint of turpen
tine. Pour into a jar, shake it well,
iand add six parts of rectiiled oil of tur
pentine. A careful housekeeper is frequently
troubled by the tannin stains in fine
ichina teacups. They may usually be
removed by rubbing them with a little
'whiting on ilannel. Salt will have the
same effect, but it sometimes scratches
very fine wnre.
' To clean wall paper use bread about a
day old. If tho paper is only dusty,
illick and rub it with a soft yarn mop.
,lf it is marked with grease, hold a
ipieco of blotting paper over tho spot
(with a hot ilatiron for a few moments,
i Atlanta Constitution
A MIND READER.
IIIU Honor Kikmv "What llln rrlvnte
Sucre tnry Thought.
"Job," said his honor, holding be
,neath his nose a bunch of ilowers which
,had been left on his desk a few minutes
ibeforo by a city hall bride, "did you
'know that I am n bit of a mind reader?"
"I did not know it," answered the pri
vate secretary, "but if you say so, of
course "
"I will prove it to you," answered his
honor, chuckling gleefully. "I will
tell you what was in your mind a few
intimites ago, Job. You remember that
when I finished the marriage ceremony
the pretty bride stepped forward and
(presented her cheek for me to kiss?'1
"Yes, I remember," stammered the
(private secretary, his cheeks Hushing,
"And you remember how 1 merely
tfihook her hand uud did not accept the
.invitation?"
"I do," answered the private secre
tary, with a regretful sigh.
"Well," continued his honor, "the
Imoment I turned nway from tho girl
J. caught sight of your face and I'll bet
jyou a pound of the best Hno cut that 1
can tell you what were your thoughts
.nt that moment."
The private secretary blushed, hung
his head, nnd mumbled something.
"Ha! ha!" his honor chuckled, "you
.don't want to hear your thoughts re
peated, eh? Well, I nni going to re
peat them, anyhow. At the moment I
turned away from that pretty girl you
were thinking: 'What a blanked fool
-tho old man is!' Come, now, isn't that
to?"
The private secretary saw it was use
less to enter a denial, so ho iled to his
.desk, and so agitated was he that in
the next five minutes he missed the cus
pidor three times in succession. N, Y
.Journal.
LEGAL OLLiY-POMUDA.
Funny Stato of Affairs in tho Dis
trict of Columbia.
Wliat In an OfTciiMc on One Sltlc of
lluoli Crook 1 Perfectly Legiti
mate on tlie Other
Side.
Special Washlncton Letter.
Tho laws which are enforced in tho
District of Columbia are peculiar. Many
of the old laws of Maryland, which were
made before this land was ceded to
tho federal government, are still in
force. Then thcrenrc federal laws which
were enacted before the creation of tho
territorial form of government: Inwsen
actcd by tho territorial legislature,
and laws enacted by congress since tho
present form of government was cre
ated In 1372.
The ancient city of Georgetown waB
an independent corporation until re
cently, but It Is now West Washington.
t is separated from the nationnl cap
ital by Hook creek, and the lows there
are in many instances different from
tho laws on the east side of Uock creek.
Maivy acts punishable as offenses in
that section do not constitute offenses
under the laws governing the rest of the
district. Many of these old laws, though
they may never have been repealed, are
seldom enforced, and then only when
many complaints nro made about a
certain thing, and the old law books are
overhauled. Now and then one of
these old law books is resurrected, nnd
for nwhile persons have to obey It, but
it soon becomes a dead letter again,
and the law is violuted with impunity
for another score or more of years.
Every few years the question of observ
ing the Sabbath is agitated. Some of
the old laws arc found to meet the case.
It is a violation of one of the old George
town corporation laws to sell on Sun
day any article except medicines, fresh
Hsh, milk and other perishable goods
which ennnot be kept over night with
sufety, but this law is seldom enforced,
and then only when complaint is made,
or after a general order has been is
sued notifying stoickeopers to close
their places on Sunday. This law, like
many others, has been contested in
the courts nnd found to be valid.
Then there Is another law which pio
hibits any manual labor on tho Sab-
THIRTY-NINE STRIPES.
bath. This law, like the preceding one,
has been contested and held to be still
in force. It provides:
"That more effectually to prevent ir
regular practices so common on Sun
day, every person working or com
manding, or suffering their children or
slaves lo work, except in cases of neces
sity, or otherwise profane tho Sabbath
by gaming, hunting, fishing or other
unhwful pastimes, shall, on conviction,
forfeit a sum not exceeding Hvo dol
lars." The second section provides
that "if the offender bo a minor nnd the
fine is not paid by himself, parent,
guardian or master, ho bhnll be forth
with committed to the penitentinry for
a time not exceeding five days, or if
he be a slave he shall be publicly
whipped, not exceeding 39 stripes."
At tho West Washington station
house the police have an old law book,
printed in 1821, which furnishes them
th3 text of tho old laws covering cer
tain offenses. There are but few of
these books in existence, so fnr as is
known, and when a case otljcr than ns
sault and battery or disorderly con
duct is made the officer making the ar
rest usually has to take this book to
court to show his ground for action.
The police doing duty west of iloek
creek have not only to bo able-bodied
men, strong and plucky enough to
handle rullinns and smart enough to
capture thieves, but they have to be
versed in all the ancient Jnws of George
town. Most of them can stand for
hours and discuss tho legal status of
their section.
Iteported in the book is a law passed
August 4, 1795, which is intended to pre
vent accidents arising from galloping
horses through streets. The act pro
vides "That any person, within tho jur
isdiction of this corporation, who shall
by galloping or otherwise force at an
impioper speed any horse, maro or
gelding through any of tho streets,
Janes or alleys, shall, if a free man, for
feit and pay for every such offense tho
sum of 15 shillings, current money, to
tho use of this corporation, to bo re
covered either before any cue aldermen
or by indictment or confession in the
mayor's court; and if an apprentice, in
dentured servant or slave, the mistress
or master of such apprentice, servant or
tluve shall forfeit and puy the sum of
(nfro& fS&i
seven shillings and six pence, current
money, to be recovered ns aforesaid."
An act of October 10, 1790, sets forth
that "the respectable inhabitants have
suffered grent inconvenience from tho
vast concourse of idle white and black
persons who frequently assemble and
engage in cock lights, at which times
they drink to excess, became rlototn,
nnd prevent tho quiet nnd repose of
good citizens." The first section of tho
act, nnd the second section, related to
slaves, who wero subject to 39 stripes
on the bnro back In a public place. Tho
firing of guns or other firearms was
made punishable under an net of Octo
ber 24, 1801. The penalty prescribed
was Hvo dollnrs, one-half of which
went to tho informer. If tho person
violating the Inw was a slave or in
dentured servant the penalty was ten
lashes, unless two dollars was paid by
his or her master or mistress.
An net to prevent goats from running
at largo was passed in 1790, giving per
sons power to kill nil goats found run
ning ut large, and to sell tho same tit tho
market-house to tho best advantage,
the person doing so to retain one-half
the money received nnd the corporation
to receive the other half. September -I,
180-1, an act was passed to keep dogs out
of tho market-house, where it appenred
they went to get meat and other vege
tables from the stands. A tax of one
dollar was assessed on dealers whose
dogs wero found within tho walls of the
mnrkct, but country dogs wero not
troubled, provided they wore kept a re
spectable distance from the stands. A
penalty of $20 was provided under net
of March, 1800, for tho keeping of any
public gaming table, whether "A, 1',
C," "L, S, D," "E, O," or other game. A
subsequent net, entitled an "Ordinance
to restrain vice," included "rooley
pooley," or faro bnnk, faro table nnd
hazard, and prescribed tho sumo pen
alty. An act approved April 30, 1808, regu
lated and fixed tho sizo of loaves of
bread offered for sale. The loaves were
to be made in size according to the qual
ity of tho Hour used and wero to sell
nt tho sumo price per loaf. The va
grancy act under which vagrants arc
now prosecuted fixes tho term of Im
prisonment ut not more than 20 days.
Tho act also provides that if he fails to
pay the jailer's fees ho shall, with con
sent of tin) mayor, be sold ut vendue to
serve nnd labor for any time not exceed
ing four months. There nro other acts
ol tho old corporation regulating com
merce and protecting the river and vari
ous business interests. Tho chimney
sweep is required, under penalty, to
faithfully perform his duties, nnd to his
advantage n penalty is prescribed for
placing a stove-pipe through tho ex
terior wall of any frame building or
through tho roof of any house, so that
stove pipes, under the law, are not per
mitted to pass through the lrame parti
tions of summer kitchens.
"It would be almost impossible to en
force many of these laws," said a police
man, "yet when complaints are made,
and the law is found, there is nothing
else to do, and, until congress acts iu
tho matter, West Washington will re
main under tho old laws. Wo work
under too many Jaws," continued the
olliccr. "Inside tho city limits we have
one set of laws and in the county we
have an entirely different set. What is
an offense in one place is permitted iu
another. Within tho limits of West
Washington a man may strip off his
clothing nnd walk tho streets In de
fiance of the officers because there Is no
law to punish him, but if he does tho
same thing on tho river shore and goes
n bathing before- nine o'clock in tho
evening he may be arrested for unlaw
ful bathing, On the eastern side of
IJock creek the same state of ivnuirs
exists.
"Persons can do an act not in violation
of tho law on one side of Boundary
street, but If they repeat it on the other
side they soon find themselves iu tho
hands of tho law. Then, again, thero
nre some offenses punishable by a heavy
fine in one section, while the penalty iu
another section is not half so heavy.
Such a stute of affairs makes it very
hard for a policeman to know whether
ho is doing his duty properly or not."
While nil Georgetown policemen are
required to know something of law,
and intricate law at that, the policemen
in Washington study only the police
regulations, nnd very few of them seem
to have brains enough to master oven
that much literature. At any rate
they are a careless lot of peace guar
dians, and knowingly wink nt vice.
Just across the river from George
town, on the Virginia shore of the Poto
mac, there are numerous gambling
houses and vile liquor saloons, the very
lowest of the low. The governor of Vir
ginia claims that he has no legal power
to control the Inwless or to arrest the
vicious. The sheriff of the county does
not call on the governor for aid, and the
governor says that he cannot invnde the
county without the authority of the
sheriff. 'While the Inwless can cap
ture the sheriff they can continue to
defy the law. SMITH D. FRY.
ISXCllMCll.
Justice Magnifleo What is your ex
cuse for not serving on the jury?
Juror I'm an expert witness myself;
and I know what fools nil those testi
fying would be! N. Y. Truth.
Slio lluil mi Idea.
Ethel What Is Stiinson in Wall
street? A bear?
Maude Why do you ask?
Ethel lie hugs just like one. Town
Topics.
ON THE CONGO JRIVEB.
A Boautlful Country Rioh in Nat
ural Rosourcos.
Uluroncnn ISinlKriitlon to Trontcnl
Afrloit In IncrcnnliiM; from Day to
Day Ueitloraltle Condition of the
Women of the Native Trlhca.
LSpcclnl London Letter.
The newest "now world" is the vnst
region watered by the Congo river and
its numerous tributaries. It is over
GOO.000 square miles in extent, and hna
been dlscocred and mapped, nnd some
parts settled, annexed, nnd eon par
tially civilized within tho past quarter
of a century. It is a strangely beau
tiful new world of which Henry M.
Stanley was the Columbus, whose
wealth and fertility nnd scenery nro
gradually becoming better known.
Whero
"Kar nway tlirotiRh forests old
Tho Congo rolls o'er huiiiIs of Bold."
Unlike some other great rivers of
tho oltl world, the Congo empties into
the Atlantic ocean in a single strcnm,
seven miles wide nnd of enormous
depth, and although cataracts and rap
ids interfere with Its continuous nav
igation, there nre between these imped
iments, iu the Congo and tho Aruwlmi,
its chief tributary, over 4,000 miles of
navigable watera.
Tho Congo valley, that is the country
of the Upper and Lower Congo, is n
wonderfully fertile land. At present
the chief commercial products mo
. IV Vu VvVwviv;9 Yluuw! ' iM-ti r. "
I t
Mrcri7aKHw . ur j.l" mwiu j jtuhhihviTjUiv: -. .. r- i ,- -w n.
A CONGO LANDSCAPE N'TOMRO FALLS. MANYANQA.
palm oil, rubber, spices, gums for med
icinal use, anil ivory. Gumcopal, wild
coffee, camwood powder and fruit in
grent nbundnucc nro produced. Theso
yield a revenue of about $25,000,000 an
nually. In what Is termed the lake re
gion of tho Congo thero aro valuable
iron nnd copper mines und gold nud
silver deposits.
Tho Upper Congo region, between
the Congo and the lakes, Is said to be n
fine field for colonization. The climate
is salubrious and temperate, the alti
tude ranging from 2,000 to 0,000 feet
above tho sea. The rich river vulleys
and old lake bottomsyleld Immense crops
of rice and grain nnd there, as well as
on tho uplands, Is found some of the
most valuable timber iu the world, the
logs making the most costly transporta
tion profitable.
Speaking of the Congo valley as a New
World Is only figuratively true, for
those lazy old pioneers, the Portuguese,
have been settled at tho mouth of the
great river, nnd many a grand fumily in
Portugal has been kept nourishing for
tho pust 200 years on the profits of the
Congo slnve trade. Thanks to the Inter
vention of tho British, principally, this
iniquity is being broken up, the only
transgressors nowndays being the
Arubs, next to the "unspeakable Turk"
tho most despicable member of the
human family. Wherever the influence
of tho believers iu the fnfse prophet ex
tends the traveler expects to find that
the natives are treated with cruelty,
and that neither age nor sex is spared
when those demons are aroused. What
the Mohammedan Is doing iu Armenia
he has done In Equatorial and West Af
rica, and occasionally cities and culti
vated regions are destroyed for miles by
the Arabs so as to capture slaves.
Among the many natives which peo
ple the Congo region there mny be
found us muny varying types as in Ku
rope, and some of them nre ns strange
in their appearance us they are in their
manners nnd customs.
A fnvorite facial adornment with the
Bu Yansi, Usindi und Alnbingn Is the
curled barb of tho beard which is
stiffened with gum and grease so as to,
give it the most elegant curve. Dr.
Buumuuu, who wns one of the first trav
elers to follow Stanley's footsteps in the
Congo valley, hud a pleasant experience
among the Usindi. They believed that
he was a rciubodlmcnt of their last
king and hnd come back from the
moon! The Urundi, or Unsindi, clnim
thnt their former kings were lineal de
scendants of the moon, and in this re
spect exhibit nn extrnordinnry parallel
with the belief of the Incus of Peru.
One of the strange races of the grent
forests of the mid-Congo basin is the
Uatwas. Before the early traveler nnd
pioneer had become familiar with the
Hat was he had heard them described as
cannibals, though better acquaintance
proved this to be Incorrect. The Bntwa
averages only four feet three inches iu
height, but is well built, active and
much stronger than his height would
lend one to expect. A dwarf woman
was bought by Dr. T. II. Parke, who
paid her former owner, an Arab, for her
"a handful of beans, 12 cups of rice and
six cups of Indian corn." He tells tin
t'int ho wan obliged to be very kind to
her nt first to prevent her running away,
but when she hud ceased to have nny
dread of cruelty, her devotion was un
bounded. "To her constant attention
and care," he said. "1 owe the enjoy
ment of good health and good foods as
far as forest weeds can bo foods -during
months of what would, without her,
have been absolute starvation."
Tho first of the forest dwarfs that
was measured was found to be ex
actly four feet in height, it is sup
posed by scientists that tho pigmies
rcptesent tho earliest typo of African
humanity, and that through the cen
turies they have remnincd unaffected
by tho partial civilization that ha
conio to their Inrger-llmbcd fellows of
other tribes, it has been found that
theso dwnrf races are not deficient iu
mental ability, that fa, as compared
with tho other races of the Congo.
Among tho 50,000,000 or 00,000,000 of
natives, divided into many different
nations, there Is n wonderful diversity
of tpngues. Not a few of these races
use sounds made by "clicking" or
"chirping" tho sounds wo make with
tho tongue agulust tho palate when
wo call a dog or a horse.
To the hunter tho valley of the Con
go presents extraordinary attractions.
From Its mouth to its source It is a
grand hunting held whero such mighty
name as the rhinoceros, tho hippopota
mus and those great felines, the leop
ard, Hon, etc., can be found, and in tho
Lower Congo the African elephant la at
MtPPTMl
, -- :-i" rs&&rJ
-sr :?r - 7?Pai2-z n
home, though ho has never been do
mesticated like his Asintio brother, and
is hunted for his tusks only.
The condition of womankind among
tho savages of the Congo uud adjoining
territory is shocking in the extreme.
Generally she Is classed as a domestic
nnimal merely, and to murder his wife
is not considered a crimo by a Mu
kumbi. A chief of thnt tribe, :n conver
sation with a missionary, casually re
marked: "I killed five of my wives dur
ing the night." A Mabunga sent his
wife to collect firewood. She sunk up
to hor shoulders in a marsh, and, her
screams attracting his attention, he
threw her a stick with which to defend
herself agninst the hyenas und other
wild bcusts, and left her till morning,
when no truce of the wretched womun
wns to be seen I
Writing from tho court of King
Mtesu, dipt. Spoke, the famous Eng
lish traveler, said: "No dny has passed
without my witnessing the execution of
nt least one, and sometimes two ot
three, of the unhappy women who com
pose the king's harem. A cord round
their wrists, they are dragged to the
slaughter, their eyes streaming with
teurs, and venting their misery In heart
rending cries of Mini Minangel K'buk
ka llai n'yaviol' (Oh, my lord, my
king! Oh, my mother, my mother!)
Not a hand is lifted to savo them, al
though here and thero a remark upon
the beauty of some young victim passes
current in alow voiceamongthecrowd."
Fv. Ilautecoeur, a missionary, report
ed that recently a child was born to one
of tho sJavo women iu the village whero
his mission is located. Jtegulnrly every
day, in defiunco of any consideration
hho might have claimed for her child's
suite, tliu wretched womun was cruelly
beuten, so that she would spend the
greater part of her time prowling
I'liiong the bushes round tho village for
fear of tho ill-treatment which she
know awaited her reappearance. "One
day," lie says, "I heard tJte baby wns
dead, and 1 learned a little Juter from
tlie other nutives thut tho poor little
tiling's death was entirely caused by
tho brutality of its own futhcr, who
would beat his wife without any re
gard for the child which she carried ort
Jier back, according to tho custom of
the country."
And If this is the fate of Africnn
women in their own homes under fa
vorable circumstances tho reader can
imugine that it must be unspeakably
worse when capture und exile are added
to their sufferings. Tho conqueror,
generally some Mohammedan monster
in human form, profiting by tho fre
quent battles between rivul tribes, se
cures u hundred or more of the prison
ers. These miserable wretches, bound
together, weighed down beneath heavy
burdens of jvory, or precious gums, nro
driven for weeks und mouths across tho
desert to an uiiknown land, there to be
again sold into abject slavery.
Tho conquest and annexation of
western and equatorial Africa by Eu
ropean nations will be the dawn of day;
for the women at least.
JAMES IRVINQ CRABBE,
