A.
Y
M.
t
'
V HIGH RENTS IN CITY.
Thay Have Caused a Large Migra
tion to the Suburbs.
WaihlaBton la No Longer a Excep
tion to the General Rale muA
i the Commuter Hub Com
to Slur.
Special Washington Letter.
T111S is the tory of the commuters
aud their advantages. It alto
tells of their disadvantages.
Every city of considerable siz has
itscoinmuters, and the national capital
has only recently grown to that size.
Of course, even small cities have a per
centage of commuters, but they only
attain respectability in numbers when
the city grows abnormally.
Some reader have, never heard of
commuters, nor even seen any of them.
They must be informed that com
muters aro men uud women who work
in cities, no matter at what occupa
tions, while they dwell in suburban vil
lages or away out iu the country.
Henry George, or some philosopher
like him, would here stop to reel oil
an argument about the wickedness and
wrong-doing of those who own prop
erty to the exclusion of others; but
that has nothing to do with this story.
It may be wrong for certain individ
uals to own thousands of acres of graz
ing ground for their countless cattl;
and it may be wrong for certain men to
own a mujor portion of the earth in
which gold is deposited. It may be
wrong for William A. Clark to own the
greatest deposit of copper on the face
of the earth; and it may be wrong for a
few individuals- to own the great coal
ilelds- of this continent. But the right
of it and the wrong of itmust be argued
out by philosophers, scientists', politi
cians or political economists.
Bents in cities are very high because
the limited amount of land used for
busiuess purposes is very valuable.
The ground is1 of greater value than the
edifice erected upon it. Therefore,
the ground used for restidencesissofar
beyond the reach of ordinary, wage
earners that they can never think of
owning city homes; and a very large
number of them cannot even earn
enough to enuble them to afford to pay
house rent or room rent. These people
become the commuters of the cities.
They get thut peculiar name be
cause of the fact that the railroad com
panies carry them from their suburban
homes to their work in the city every
morning and back again every night
f ora comparatively small charge. That
is, as compared with the regular
rates for passengers. They buy
monthly or quarterly communtatlon
tickets, and it is on account of this
that they are called commuters.
The strangest thing about com
muters of the national capital is that
they can rent houses in Baltimore at
such a low rate, as compared with rates
here, tliat they can afford to pay their
communtatlon rates and yet save
money. Baltimore is 40 miles distant
from Washington, but it only takes
about three-quarters of an hour to
make the trip. Government clerks
here in great numbers rent homes in
Baltimore, although they do their work
in this city. Th oflices here open at
A COMFORTABLE HALF HOUR.
nine o'clock every morning, and close
at four o'clock every afternoon. The
commuters read their morning papers
while coming to their oflices, and read
their evening papers while returning
to their Baltimore homes.
These commuters are not known in
Washington outside of their offices.
They are well known in Baltimore,
where their families enter upon all so
cial functions, including the church
services of all kinds. Thcir.nnmcs are
mentionefin the Baltimore newspa
pers, but they are never mentioned
here. Only a few years ago a govern
mentclerk was1 shadowed by Baltimore
detectives for several weeks, because
they suspected him of being a burglar.
He chose to httTe it understood thathe
was a man of means, that he did not
have to work, and his liberal expendi
tures of money excited suspicion in
many minds. The detectives were dis
gusted, after all of their sleuthing,
when they found that he was a govern
ment clerk who earned a good salary
in the national capital, while he resid
ed in Baltimore and appeared every
evening at some function, and always
ft gentleman of leisure.
The electric line to Mount Vernon,
the home of Washington living and the
tomb of Washington dead, hasinduoed
several hundred people to buy small
acreages along the llneand build there
on homes for themselve. The distance
to Mount Vernon is only 14 miles, and
the car line is well equipped, so that
it is almost as easy to live on the Vir
ginia shores of tho Potomac as it is to
dwell in the remote parts of this city,
so far a9 time is concerned in going
back and forth. Moreover, the ancient
city of Alexandria is on the route, the
cars passing through it, nndthere our
commuters And it possible for them to
mingle with the best society of the blue
bloods of the first families of Virginia.
Alexandria itself is becoming an at
tractive suburb of this capital city.
Several score of the best people in the
government scrvicehnve rented houses
NOT WORRIED ABOUT COAL FAMINE.
there, and some have undertaken to
build homes there for themselves, on
the installment plan. Alexandria, al
beit nn ancient city, has fallen into
business decay ever since the great shot
and shell discussion between the sec
tions of our country. But of recent
years it lias been growing gradually
into modernized conditions. Every
body feels and almost knows that in a
short space of time, say ten years, it
will become a part of the national cap
ital, as it once was. The commuters of
to-dny will be the fathers of resident
families there in the next generation.
Northeast of the city proper is a vil
lage of 10,000 inhabitants, called Eck
ington; und it is subdivided so that a
portion of it is called Brookland. This
populous suburb is now builded up to
the city limits, so that only old inhab
itants know it is a suburb which has
grafted itself onto the boundary line.
Eckington wa until recently the un
divided property left by Chief Justice
Salmon 1 Chase, to his brilliant and
beautiful daughter, Kate. J,ust a f ew
years before her death she sold it, and
it was converted into building lots by
enterprising real estate dealers. It is
a beautiful place, and it is the product
of commuters.
Eckington has a history, although
there is nothing left of the old coun
try place which is visible to mortal
eyes. Many wonderful political deals
were there arranged. The most no
table occurrence of all was in January,
1877, when Kate Chase entertained Sen
ator Conkling so charmingly and en
chantingly that she kept him away
from the capitol while the electoral
commission bill wus being enacted in
to law. If Conkling had been on duty
he would have defeated that bill. But
Kate Chase kept him away, the bill
was enacted, and llajes became presi
dent. Col. Andrew Geddes, chief clerk of the
department of agriculture, lives at
Kensington, a suburb 15 miles to the
north webt of the city proper. He says:
"We have as pretty a little place nsany
of those which have been built up
around Chicago by its commuters, al
though it is not yet so large as some of
them. 1 can take an electric car at
eight o'clock every morning, open my
morning paper and read it all the way
to the city, arriving at the department
at half-past eight o'clock, which is
half an hour before the department
work begins. Quite a number of Wash
ington business men, as well as govern
ment clerks, live there, and we are all
proud of our country homes."
Arlington National cemetery is on
the heights across the Potomac river,
and the old Lee mansion is visible from
every part of tho city. West of Ar
lington is Fort Myer, nn army post of
the regular army. Between the fort
and the aqueduct bridge, a distance of
three miles, the entire hill'country is
divided into lots and called Fort Myer
Heights. Here the commuters ure
building homes by the score.
Then there is u splendid new electric
line running through Georgetown,
past President Cleveland's former
country home, and far out to Ilock
ville, Md., where an excellent seminary
is located. This is a line ride, with
the homes of the wealthy all along
the route. John It. McLean, of Ohio,
owns a baronial estate here, of which
any of the noblemen of the old world
might be proud.
And, best of all, these commuters of
ours live where there is plenty of tim
ber land, and they are buying cord
wood for from $3 to $5 a cord, and they
are not worried about the coal famine.
Under the circumstances the commu
ters are to be envied.
SMITH D. FRT.
THE ERA OF MISSIONS.
It Was a Golden Age for the Fa
thers of the Church.
Jeanlta and Kraaolacaaa Krectcd
Most of th Karlr Snettmrit
la California, Arlaona
and Texas,
8peclal Los Angeles (Cal.) Letter.
IT is hard to describe the sensations
with which one approaches the re
mains in which all thut was best
and most interior in a past civilization
ultimated itself and from which the
soul has long been withdrawn. The
history of the church fathcrsin the far
west is that of human kind in general.
Ambition for wealth and distinction
traveled hand in hand with religious
fervor, the latter embodying itself in
material shapes wonderfully beauti
ful and inposing, when one takes into
consideration the workmen em
ployed, prieste ull unused to m a mm 1
labor and indolent, ignorant Indian
converts, with whom superstition
must be employed as a lash to quicken
their spiritual nrdor sufficiently to in
duce them to labor. All that wus best
in that nearly vanished civilization
was represented iu its church edillces,
many of which have entirely disap
peared and neurly all are in a condi
tion of picturesque ruin. As one rev
erently approaches the altar in some
of the better preserved missions and
feels the spirit of the place stealing
into and around him, it is hard to con
ceive of the vandalism which more
swiftly than time and the elements is
despoiling all that it left to mark the
labors of love und devotion surround
ing him. llelic-seekers gain little for
themselves and lose much to the world
by their thoughtless defacement of
what they must be unable to appreci
ate. Perhaps that of Juan de Capistrano
is as picturesque us any of the dead
missions. One might spend days gaz
ing down it long corridors, repco
pling them, in imagination, with
those who traversed their shaded
lengths in the past. Some of the fres
coes remain in strangely beautiful
coloring, which defies sun and rain,
MISSION CHURCH AT PASO
and the compounding and application
of the pigments of which are forgot
ten processes.
Hardly anything remains of the San
Diego mission except the beautiful
date palms near, planted by Father
Jenipero and his followers. These
were the first introduced into this
country and are said to be over 300
years old. At intervals all along the
Pacific coast, are missions in every
stage of decaj That in Los Angeles,
opposite the plaza, is still in use. The
San Gabriel mission, especially noted
for its bells, is in a fair state oi preser
vation and the bestowal of "two bits"
sufficiently warms the heart of its old
Mexican guardian to induce her to
show its interior to the best advan
tage. The appearance of San Luis Bey
mission is very well known, it having
been reproduced in facsimile in sev
eral places. San Francisco possesses
one of grcnt interest, but the best pre
served and most noted is located at
Santa Barbara, Cal. It is in excellent
condition and constant use, being the
home of monks, whose hospitality and
ready kindness in conducting visitors
through the building are appreciated
by the traveling public. One may here
purchase rosaries and other souvenirs
manufactured by the fathers them
selves. Fnther Junipero Serra found
ed this mission in 1782 or 178C (the
dates are variously given), but the
present building was not erected until
1815-20. This bhould not in any way be
confounded with the mission Santa
Barbara de Altar at Sonora, Mexico,
which is practically destroyed, itb site
being marked by stutely palms. The
Jesuits founded the latter in 1C87. It
was 300 feet long and built of adobe.
It was established by Father Kino and
its thick walls enclosed a presidio,
cemetery und sleeping quarters for
Christians and soldiers when the lat
ter were warring with hostile Indians.
After the Jesuits were expelled Fran
ciscans' served the people, but mis
fortunes rapidly followed each other
and the place was finally considered
hoodooed and abandoned.
Many romantic storiesareconnected
with the mission at Altni, which ore
sometimes erroneously supposed to
pertain to that at Scnta Barbara, Cal.
Purlsslmn, mirsion, at Lompno, which li
dated December 8, 1787, three year
after his death, is said to be one of the
11 founded by father Junipero Sevra.
In 1811 it was- nearly destroyed by an
earthquake. The Indians were super
stitious and it was found neceasary to
rebuild it across the river, whose
abundant water supply had at first aU
traded over 3,000 settlers- to the place.
The old building inclosed a space of
400 feet square. The new one wa much
smaller, and its settlement never num
bered over 1,500 people. Its 200 feet of
wide veranda still bears evldenco of
carving and other ornamentation. Its
furniture was long since removed, and
reports of buried treasure have caused
excavations 20 feet deep to bo made
within tho walls, to no purpose. The
recent earthquake has loosened the old
MISSION SAN XAV1ER. TUCSON.
rafters and shaken the adobe walls,
thus hastening the desolating work of
time.
At Juarez (Paso del Norte), over the
Mexican line from El Paso, Tex., is an
interesting old mission, in nn intercst
ingstnteof preservation, being still tho
resort of many worshipers. The altar,
confessional, pictures and statunry be
long to a time and nation not ourown,
but are interesting in the extreme.
Small, shiny, little Mexican boys may
always be seen outside tho doorway
with bits of dried leaves, said to bo
blessed and to insure great ndvnntngcs
to the purchaser.
All through New Mexico and Arlzonn
the remains' of old missions appear.
That of San Xnvier del Bae ("Bae" be
ing an Indian word for house), situated
about nine miles southwest of Tucson,
presents many attractive features.
The architectural lines are very beau-
DEL NORTE, MEXICO.
ti, and in its partial restoration great
care has been taken to preserve them,
One distinguishing characteristic of
this building is that the walls are of
brick, rather than of adobe, but lurgcly
resembling the latter in size. These
bricks nre said to have been brought
from Spain and transported with great
labor to this point. The edifice has re
cently been plastered, except the tower
at the right in the Illustration, which
has been left unprotected, in order to
show the original material. The four
saints in the niches on the exterior at
the sides of the entrance, nre carved in
stone, life bi.e. There are many fig
ures of wood and wax in the interior.
The Blessed Virgin is resplendant in a
milled silken robe, while tarleton of
many colors adorns some of her com
panions. Poor St. Patrick, minus one
wooden finger, which erstwhile pointed
heavenward, has to content himself
with but one garment, a skirt extend
ing from the waistline abouthnlf way
to the ground, this bingular, abbrevi
ated protection being of thin white
muslin trimmed with crocheted lace.
The scene is somewhat amusing when,
on his anniversary, the children of the
Indian school march1 to a neighboring
hill and sing, "All hail to St. Patrick,"
their brown fncesdlffering in color and
expression from those with which we
usually associate this celebration. Sis
ters conduct the school in the right
wing. On entering the church, a
damp, earthy smell ubsails the nostrils
and one is scarcely able to see in the
dim light, which only enters through
openings in the dome. After a few sec
onds, the outlines of the carved altar
become visible and the designs on the
walls, some of which nre of a sort of
gilding, the composition of which be
longs to the lost arts. Father Kino
established a mission here in 1700 or
1731 authorities differ. It i general
ly agreed that the present building was
begun in 1783. Apaches and other vvnr
like tribes gren.tly retarded the work.
EDWARD JULIAN.
Mamma'a Great 1'leaanrr.
"There is really no iue iu tulking
to you, Minnie."
"Oh, don't say that, mamma. Now,
you know you like to hear yourself
talk." Yonkers Statesman.
THE NEGLECTED H0O.
Hmny Otherwise Ilnma Varment
Vlalt the llamble rork with !
Bkntacfal Traalmeatt,
Pcrhnns in the whole rnnir nt farta
life no bettor or worse example' of
"let well enough nlonc" can be fotisri
than in the case of tho poor, negleettf
pig. As vre all know, this animal wW
live, and to a certain extent, thrive n
Jcr tho most adverse conditions.
There are always n multitude f
things to bo looked after on n farm;
lomo of them muBt bo looked after
thoroughly or they will bo complete
losses; others can bo somewhat ne
glected and still counted on yielding
i fair return. Tho hog, of nil farm
inlmalB, of nil farm work, is the most
accommodating, the most patient ol
leglect, hence the hog is the most ne
glected. He may be putln n pen scarce
largo enough for him to turn about
n. bo mode to plow his way In half
his depth of mud and filth, be without
belter from tho rnln ami without
strnvv for bedding, and yet ho will
?row and add his full share to tho
arm products. As n pig clean, keen
and healthy he is put into his narrow
luartcrs, perhaps into four or live
Inches of oozy mud as left by his prc
lecessor, and from that on to tho time
when he, too, is ready for the pork
barrel there is but ono thought re
rnrding him to feed him to his full
est capacity. The farmer Is not so
nuch to blame as might appear at
first thought, lie is very busy, the pig
Is very accommodating, tho rcstiUti in
iny case fairly sure. True, a few
hours' work would mean a good pen,
with sufficient shelter, nnd clean
ground and straw for bedding; but
there nre fields to be mnfle ready,
Joeds to be planted, crops to bo looked
lfter, nil impatient of delny, bo, as tho
pig grows and grunts on contentedly,
lie is passed over and tho other things
Utendcd to. Now his pork mny look
ill right, nnd sell for Just ns much au
hough he hud been exposed to tho in
iuence of pure nlr anil bunllght in
stead of being shutuwoy from it by a
)rpetuul incrustation of mud mm)
11th; but enlightened customers aro
Jkely to have peculiar views of their
Jwn on tho hubjeet. Frank Sweet, In
Epltomist.
WELL-FATTENED FOWLS.
rhMr Flculi Nlioultl lie I't-rmralctl liy
Fnt HiiIIkt Tli ii n Miirroiimloil
ly l.uyrrn of Fat,
To properly fatten a fowl is n,
science. That fowl is not properly
fattened which has n largo amount ot
fat in layers under the akin nnd
around the intestines. Around -tho
intestines it may be, but tho flesh
should be rather permeated by fat
than surrounded by fat. Tho flesh
should be evenly inflltrntcd by fat
Fnt iiould not show through the skin,
nor should there he any fnt under the
skin to kIiovv, no matter how thin tho
skin mny be. In Franco a wclMat
tened bird Is one that huso good sup
ply of flesh over the back. When that
is-attained the buyers feel certain that
the breast meat is in good condition,,
ns fnt more readily accumulates on
the back than on the brensit. To fat
ten birds properly requires food rich
in nitrogen as well ns carbo-hydrates,
It also requires some attention .to
breeding, as the quality to fatten prop
erly must be inbred to a very con
siderable extent. As yet we have
done little along the line of determin
ing what breeds fatten most perfectly.'
Probably in each breed will be found
Mrnins of fowls-that have the desired
qualities-. Before long, experimenta
tion will without doubt be made along
this line. The result should grcntly
Improve the quality of the fattened
fowls we see in our markets. Farmora'
IJeview.
THE GIANT SPURRY.
A IMnnl Tlml la Now llrliijr niyen n
Trial on Hnnily Holla lit Kx-
lterlmvnt HtittlniiM.
We illustrate giant spurry, a plant
that is being tried on some of our
sandy soils. It is a low-growing an-
THE C-IANT RPURRY.
nual, forming a tangled muss. Under
fair conditions it makes a good growth'
on sandy laud, but is otherwise of Jit-
toy iiiiui, out isotiierwtse of Jit
,lue. Its place in thp ugricul
system of the country, U'et ,lo
termlned. Farmers' He'Yiuw -v.
tie value.
tu nil h
be tlet (
i AK JAf
A
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