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About Harrison press-journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1899)
PORTO RICO AS IT IS, Labor and .iidoslry. THE SCHOOLS OF MANILA. Talk About Wonan. I have seen nothing prettier on the Whole island than the road from Rio Pledras to Kan Juan. It is lined with wide variety of handsome tropical trees, fronting pleturcsque cottages. Flower garden are plentiful, and oc casionally one of them la laid out with ome skll land taste. Theae evidences of culture are indeed rare and no American can visit the Island without a feeling of disappointment nt the lack of outward as will us Inward home at tractions. San Juan, Ponce, Mayaguez, Agua dllla and A reel bo ar call s-aports and are really the only places of much con sequence on the Island. Arecil.o is some fifty miles west from San Juan. The Journay may be made by rail, al though it is about as bad a railroad as I ever saw. The train conductors, however, were always considerate enough to delay the cars four or five minutes at the various stations, In or der to give me such time as I needed to explore them, or to buy a drink of cocoanut milk from the peripatetic Vender. Arecibo has some extremely picturesque environs. Five or six miles cast of the town Is a vertical rock that rises some 300 feet. About half way to Its summit Is an entrance which leads Into a grotto that has a number of caverns, arches, stalactites and other curiosities. It may be added that this with the hot sulphur springs about five miles from Coamo on the military road In the southern part of the Isl and, are really worth a visit from ev evry American tourist. The hotel ac commodations at the springs are the best that can be found on the Island. Aguadllla, at the extreme northwest ern portion of the Island, Is extremely picturesque, and Mayaguex has to my mind better opportunities for Invest ment than either San Juan or Ponce. CHANCE FOR INVESTMENT. But what chance does Porto Rico offer to settlers or Investors? The an swering of this question Is beset with difficulties because facts there are elu sive as will-o'-wisps und as slippery as eels. This may account for the fine Imagination and deft diction shown In so much that has been written about the Island. To depend upon the native for Information is to become bewil dered by tlaboiate contradiction. The truthseeker will be told, for instance, that the rainy season begins and ends at periods varying according to the number of natives he consults. Super ficial candor will assure him that so cial life iB a stream of unpolluted In nocence and that Its bestiality can be pai allele! only by the worst days of Imperial Rome; that life and property are f:iirly secure, and that villainy and outlawry stalk broadeast over the land. It Is reported that before the Span lards evacuated Kan Juan they releas ed several hundred of the worst types of criminals murderers and brigands from the Inland prison, sending them out broadcast over the country to re sume their vocations of murder and ra pine. Whilst this report Is confirmed by our own soldiers, I have traveled all over the island alone, night and day without molestation, or witnessing; an crime, flagrant or otherwise. Thus when I turn to the prospect for labor and for capital, to the cham for the Incoming Investor and the work er, I soon learn to be guided only b.. facts acquired by observation, thoug.. not until It had cost me something in time and Spanish pesos. For Illustra tion, It has been reported with a good deal of sincerity that there are good placer gold mines up In the mountains back of Hto Grande; that the wom-n make six or seven dollars a week pan ning It out from the beds of the creeks. Soldiers at Cagtias told me they had seen the dust In possession of their comrades at Fajnxdo. but when I ar rived at that town the gold had some how flown back to Caguaa. Hut yet the claim was still that there was plcn ty of gold In the mountains. "Much" oro." ald the native; "plenty of gold Oust," said the American soldier. A twenty mile journey, however, a care ful sifting of th story, and a much more exhaustive sifting of the sand In the beds of the creeks, demonstrated to my mind that there Is only here and there a gold color In the locality, possibly we- may yet hear of rich Porto Rlcan gold mine companies, how ever, cash capital one unit and c. phers ad lib. COFFEE CULTURE. Hut let us take less speculative c. terprlses cc,rTe raising, for exampb Undeveloped coffee land can be pur chased for twenty dollars per acre provided a native does the buying Americans will be charged twice that sum. Four years of hard work are in quired before any return whatever can be secured. Unless already wood ed, trees must be planted to shade th coffee shrub, and the curcoa tree which brings a profit tn Itself, Is best for this purpose, although the moir ijulckly maturing banana will answer It !s claimed that coffee can be grown without shade, but I am unable to find and thus produced under the hot Por to 'Rican sun. After the fourth year some berries may be picked, and the production increases until tho terilh year when it Is at its zenith. Eight hundred pounds of coffee is a good yield for on acre of ground, twenty cms, SranlHh money, is an averat: price per pound, and sixteen dollars ti the acre a fair eMIrnate of the cost of cultivation and harvest. The coffee bloom Is white, of a pleasant perfume, and the Iwrry. Is attached closely to and encircling the branch. The berry is first green, the.i red, and lastly white. Ijiko most tropical productions it rltens at such varying periods that several pickings are required. The best coffee shrubs are about six feet high, and the branches spread widely. ' Sugar-cane plantations can be tart ed In far less time, but while coffee is largely grown on the hillsides and char to their tops, bottom lands are the best for cane, and these are not so easy to secure In Porto Rico. Cane requires but little cultivation, and It grows ten years In this country with out replanting. The cost of extracting MORE TROUBLE It docs not seem unlikely that Eng land will soon have another trouble some little war on her hands, In the Afghanistan frontier region, where the Wazlrls are becoming very troublesome, says the New York Evening Post. Fresh raids by these restless hill men are refuted constantly, and not con tent with confining themselves to cnt tlelifllng and the waylaying of govern, ntent mallrunners and levy escorts.they lately attacked the political officer of Wano himself, killing one of his guards. Troops aro In pursuit of this particular gang of bnndlts, but the marauders will have dispersed, prob ably. Ion before tha detachment can come up with them. On June 1 a commissariat kafila with government More waa looted near Bunnu. Th i raid wa not serious, were recaptured without Iom of Ufa. the sugar from the stalk Is about twenty dollars on the gross product o fover three hundred dollars per acre. It may be added that In Louisiana sugar cane must be replanted every three years. The cost of machinery for extraction the engines, the boil ers, the vats and the crushers is heavy, but the grower of small means can take bis cane to the mill very much as the farmer In the states used to take his com, the miller returning the finished product after deducting toll. Good sugar cane land is easily worth one hundred dollars an acre and is usually held at a far higher value. Tobacco land Is worth quite as much as cane land, and no better tobacco can be grown on earth than on the Isl and. For the man of small means fruit raising offers far greater attrac tion than anything else he can engage In. Fine oranges grow abundantly without cultivation, and the exicri enced grower who Introduces the Cal ifornia navel fruit on the Island will make a fortune. Land suitable for fruit can be had at a comparatively low figure, and with low freight rates and a line of steamers making the dis tance from San Juan to New York in three days, there can be no competl tion from other sources of supply. NATIVE STORES. The general merchant will do well to keep away from the Island at pres ent. Almost every other house on the military road from Ponce to San Juan Is a general store, and while the prin cipal article of traffic is rum, they all carry a supply of such goods as are of common use and the consumptive capacity of the average native Is at present wofully limited. It is notice able that the average native buys his sugar, coffee, rice, and Indeed, most of his groceries, by the single penny's worth. The country needs a railway system to assist in its development and fu ture prosperity, but It will require a Jim Hill or a Vanderbllt, with the pa tience of Job, to wait for Its success ful operation. A good deal has been said about a railroad around the Isl and. The present status of Porto Rl can railways Is this: In 1878 a report was ptos-entcd to the minister of the colonies embodying a study made by the engineer and head of public works, with the view of constructing a rail road which should start from the capi tal, and passing through all the chief towns near or on tho coast, return to the point of departure, thus encircling the Island. The provincial authorities finally let out the contract and gave the exclusive franchise to a French company for ninety-nine years and the guaranteed Interest of eight per cent on the cost of construction. The company promised to complete the line tn six years, but it did not carry out its contract, nor has the Island treasurer paid Its promised eight per cent Interest. , At present there are one hundred and twenty-seven miles of completed railroad under this con tract and considerably more partly constructed. The roadbed la fairly good, but the rolling stock Is of ex tremely Inferior quality, and the rails In many places are well consumed or made badly defective by the damp cli mate. Coal for fuel is Imported from the United States. The speed of trains is twelve or fourteen miles per hour. There are first, second and third class cars, and the fare Is five, three and two cents respectively, SpanlHh money, per kilometer. A fleet of light draft fast steamers around the island woulu prove far more remunerative at present than the railroad, but the time is com ing when the latter, with spurs to the smaller towns, and in the hands of American operators, will pay hand somely. MILITARY ROAD AND THE PEOPLE The construction of a railroad across the Island from Ponce to San Juan would be an engineering feat quite hp difficult as that of crossing the Alps or the Rockies. Twenty miles back from the coast on cither Bide are suc cessions or networks of sierras and hills of varying height, some of them rising almost perpendicularly. The mil itary road switches back and forth for miles at angles so sharp that the pedestrian can often save time and ef fort as well as distance, by climbing on his hands and knees from one turn io the other, a distance of not more than fifty feet. After careful observation and study I am unable to Bee anything to ad mire, mental, moral or physical, In the average Pprlo Rlcan native. It must not be forgotten that he Is either a product of darkest Africa or of Spain or a mixture of both, and it has been rny experience that the better citizen is the one of Spanish blood. Although the Island la of marvelous fertility, prodigally watered and warmed by such an ardent sun that vegetation Is of wonderful luxuriance, yet the average native Is too lazy to cultivate It- Hence poverty is on ev ery band. All this may be changed by educating the rising generation. An American school system with teaching entirely In Kngllsh the Spanish lan guage Is of no use except It le to read lion Quixote -will accomplish won ders. As for the adult-Ignorant, low, cunning his blood often tainted with foul disease there Is no hope for him. -A. A. H. "This is the era of the plain girl in business," said a leading milliner, "and the girl whose beauty Is so Insistent that none may deny It has to stand aside for her plainer sisters. You will find that Is the case Is nearly every business establishment in the big town. Not that there Is any aversion to mod erate beauty In the employes that Is very often to be desired; but pro nounced loveliness Is entirely too at tractive, both to Its possessor and con templator, to facilitate the Interests of employers. Go Into any large milli ner's and you will see scores of girls behind the counter who are quite plain, although not positively ugly. You will j ...... i.j nno whose charm of face or form la so near to perfection as to hold you speiiuouou. FOR THE BRITISH. Hut a subsequent raid, mndo on' June 23 across the Afghan frontier, was on a much larger scale, and Is expected to result In further protests from the Ameer to the Indian government. La ter reports state that In the-Zhob val ley, towards the end of June, a party of Wazlrls dismantled tho telegraph posts, carried away a considerable quantity of wire, and fired on the tele graph parly, which was sent to repair the break. Flying columns arc said to be held In readiness nt all the frontier tiosts to follow up the bands of ma rauders wherever they may appear. Hut hitherto, with one solitary excep tion, these military columns have only had their trouble for their pains, the active hill men vanishing with their loot Ions; before the aoldlersecan arrive a regular punitive expedition will have to be organised. Mexico Is said to have t'.ve .: . e.v cotton mills so fur this year. One hundred and finy-ftv - haftes .o n New York City have adopt, d th en-hour workday. Switchmen on the C, B. & Q. rai load at Quincy have been granted a ! per cent incieas- In wages. It is estimated that Missouri farniei ; leceived over .OnO.isf.i for their mul ; iust year. The number shipped fioi. St. Louis was 117,6e3. A New Jersey g. nlus has invented a machine which will strip tobaec leaves of the thick stems and turn H out ready for its various uses. Coal miners are scarce In North Da kota and all efforts to secure miners have thus far been unavailing. Wages are from $3 to (t per day, with board a. $4 per week. Eighty thousand acres of land In Nova Scotia have been recently, pur chased by Michigan and Chicago cap italists with a view to the manufacture of wood pulp on an extended scale. The United Mine Workers order now has 120,000 active members. The na tional treasury has a surplus of al most $00,000. The expenses, $.;0,000 an nually, are paid by assessing each member 3 per cent of his gross earn ings. " R. H. Edmunds of Baltimore places the amount of wages which will be paid to factory hands in the south this year at the large sum of $.150,000,000. Toe estimated value of manufactured products in the south Is placed at $1, 600.000,000. The Singer sewing machine works at Elizabeth, N. J., employing 4,500 hands, on account of the large orders on hand, was unable this year the first time in its hlBtory to shut down election day to permit its army of employes to vote. Joslah Hall, mine inspector of the state of Michigan, reports nearly 3,000 more miners are now employed In the copper mines at Houghton, Mich., than there were a year ago, and states this number would be much greater if the men could be secured. All the big Iron, steel, glass and wood-working factories In Muncle, Ind., where thousands of men are employed, 'are working twenty-four hours per day where it is possible, and the fac tories and mills are being equipped with electric lighting plants rapidly, for use by the night workmen. At Provo, Utah, the woolen mills em ployes are now receiving only one third cash and the rest in woolen mills scrip, for which they can get only about 90 cents on the dollar on the local market, though It passes for the same as cash at the mills, when the produce of the factory la purchased. The main purpose of the American Equal Wage union, recently Incorpor ated under the laws of Missouri, as declared in an address Just Issued to the public, Is to eradicate the practice of paying less wages to women than Is paid to men for the same work. It also alms to protect children from unnec essary work. Statistics Just completed by the In come Tax commission of Great Britain show that out of a total population of 12,500,000 more than 10,000,000 earn less than $860 a year. The income tax Is collected at the rate of 16 cents on each $5 above $860, and the total tax, which last year amounted to nearly $100,000, 000, was contributed by not more than 2,000,000 people. Some Late Inventions. Oil con be discharged from a new can without tilting, a spring-controlled piston being set In proximity to the top of the handle whereby a slight pres sure of the thumb forces a small quan tity of oil through the spout. An Improved stirrup for saddles has a, device to prevent the toe slipping In far enough to allow the Instep to strike the yoke, consisting of a bar above and lnfront of the strap-bar, which keeps the stirrup bent back. By the use of a new attachment for shaving brushes the bristles can be made stiff or flexible as desired, a me tallic tube being slipped over the brush and contained In a recess In the han dle, with stops to limit its outward mnvement. For use In burning stumps a western man has designed a furnace, which can be built up tn conical sections around the -stump, with draft openings In each section, which cause a fire started at the roots to consume the stump in stead of going out. By the use of a newly-designed cas ter chairs and tables are made to stand steady on the floor, the socket which carries the caster-spindle being formed of a screw-threaded sleeve, which Is turned up or down to adjust the wheel to the floor. An Ohio man has patented a device to prevent electrolysis In pipes and conduits, formed of a non-conducting collar to fit between the ends at the Joints, with one end of the collar flanged to prevent the ends of the pipe from coming In contact. In a new heating attachment for lamp chimneys a cone-shaped tin top Is Inverted in the chimney, with .the lower end oien and a flat wall over the top, to be heated by the flame, which can be used for cooking, or the top can be rnlsd to heat the room. To enable letter carriers to carry heavy bags of mail matter without straining themselves a truck has been designed, having a single rubber tired wheel suspended at the lower end of a light frame, the latter being fitted with a basket for the mall bag. In an improved meat-tenderer parti cles of meat are prevented from stick ing to the teeth by the use of a spring guard, a single piece of spring wire be ing bent around each tooth to be forcpd back ns the mieat Is struck, springing forward again to scrape the teeth. Workmen are protected from falling when working on a scaffold by a New Yorker's patent apparatus, foimed of a number of straps, to be buckled round the body, with a clamp on the harness, which grips a rope suspended over the scaffold to hold tho man If he falls. Medicinal powders can be rapidly put up In papers by a new apparatus, hav ing a hopiier for the powder, with a slotted bar beneath, which receives the proper amount of powder and Is push ed along to deposit It on a paper spread out for the purpose. To prevent the breakage of Incan descent mantles a New York man has patented a frame of wire, with a ring at the top, which fits over Ihe support, the mnnt!i being stretched over tho frame before being treated, so that lhe fram receives all shocks' and Jars. To rapidly moisten the buttonholes of shirts and collars a New Yorker has patented a handy device, shaped like a pair of pliers, with the Jaws fitted with a pair of absorbent pads whl'h are closed over the buttonhole by pressing the grips together In the hand. The temples of a newly patented pair of spectacles can be separated from the frame, to allow the glasses to be Inclosed In a smaller case, the ends of the frame having open-ended sockets with the ends of the templea wedge shaped, to be drawn Into the sockets for use. Almost at the beginning of the Amer ican occupation of Manila, Padre Mc Kinnon was put in charge of the public schools. The system under the Span lards was not very extensive nor was the work very thorough, and there was a lot of hard work for the padre In jetting things to running again in any thing like proper shape. Before he had fairly got started at it, the leper hos pital was put in his charse also, and there was a lot more work. Then he was made superintendent of the ceme teries, all of those in Manila being un Jer his direction, and that did make his hands full. All this work the padre has looked after steadily since he took hold of It last fall, and, besides, he has found time somehow to go with hie boys under fire in their fighting about Manila. It was In the schools that Father McKlnnon was most interested. At the start It was slow work. There were comparatively few pupils and only two school houses. Both of these were con ducted by the Jesuits, one in the walled city and the other In Malate. The school In the walled city was the only regular municipal school in Manila; that in Malate was a normal school for the training of teachers, conducted much on the lines of similar Institu tions In the states. There had been several district schools of little better than primary standing, and these Fath er McKlnnon reorganized and set at work as agon as possible. He was able to employ most of the old teachers, and where these could not be found he found others. This was not a matter of great difficulty, though it required time. The Filipino as a rule Is extremely ambitious for his children. Especially is this so in the matter of education. There was no great lack of pupils when It became known that the new schools were free and that care would be taken of all the children who came. It soon became necessary to provide more room and Father McKlnnon began to spread out. Buildings were rented In various parts of the city and new schools were opened as fast as was required. Teach ers were not difficult to get, although the pay was very small, In very few cases amounting to $-0 (Mexican) per month. The system was In a flourishing con dition last fall when Father McKln non met his first indication of the force of the Insurrectionary movement. It came in the shape of a prohibition by Agulnaldo of one of his pet plans. He j had arranged for a formal raising of the Stars and Stripes over the normal school building In Malate. All the na tive teachers and some of the pupils were to take part In the ceremonies, and an elaborate program was pre pared. Agulnaldo simply forbade any Filipino to have anything to do with the raising of the American flag, and all obeyed him. Nevertheless the flag was raised on the day and at the time appointed. After that the feeling be tween the Americans and the Filipinos kept growing steadily more and more strained, and its effect was shown In a diminishing attendance at the school. There were some pupils, however, who were faithful, and even in the moat try ing timea of the first fighting the schools were not shut down altogether. Some time ago Father McKlnnon de cided to begin giving instruction in England. There were a few of his reg- ENGLAND'S FORCE By the Marquis of Lansdowne: "We have at this moment in South Africa or afloat and well on their way five cav alry regiments, ten batteries of ar tillery and thirty battalions of Infantry with their reservists and equipment. To effect this result all concerned have worked with a will, not only those whose special interest and business It was to make the mobilization a success but also those who may have been not a little inconvenienced by it, notably the railway companies, who have given us most valuable assistance. But before we are able to concen trate and move our force we have to land them at harbiirs, some of which are far from easy of access, and even when the distance has been covered we still find ourselves with a long and difficult land Journey to face before the enemy's country can be reached. We have therefore to collect large reserves of supplis beforehand and to provide on the spot the transport animals and vehicles appropriate to the country In which the campaign Is to take place. For this purpose we have had to pro cure no less than 15,000 mules, which we have had to bring from Spain, from Italy and from America. These diffi culties .however, have to be faced, and we are iierfeetly aware that unless we can face them successfully we cannot provide adequately for the safety of an empire scattered all over the four quarters of the globe. Upon another incident I feel bound to say a word I mean the participation of the great colonies. There has been nothing like it in the history of this country. Of the genuineness of their desire to help us there can be no doubt. They would take no denial. It was the colonial governments that offered to send the contingents, but It was from the people that the Impetus came. It was with regret that we found ourselves obliged to Impose lim its upon the numbers which they were willing to furnish, but to my mind the value of this colonial force Is not to be measured merely by their numerical The Old Timers, Mrs. Maria Allen of Elyrla, O., who Is 98 years old, Is the oldest member of the women's Relief corps Jesse Bracken of Mason City, la., celebrated his 101st birthday recently while serving on a Jury In that town. He Is the oldest man in Iowa. Charlotte Embden, who died at Ham burg on October 14, aged 93 years, sur vived her brother, the poet Heine, by thirty-three years, though she was born only two years after him. According to the latest report of II. CTlay Evans, commissioner of pen sions, there Is now only one survivor of the war of 1KI2 Hiram Cronk of north, western New York. He Is only 99 years of age. Judge Wylle, for years one of the most prominent figures on the district bench, Is still living In Washington, and though over 90 years old, Is In vig orous health. Last week he spent a day In gunning. Rev. Dr. Rharrett of Kioxvllle, Tenn., who Is 91 years old, has eloped with five women and the sextette are supposed, from their declared Inten tions, to be en route for Salt Lake, where polygamy seems still possible. They were all Inmates of the poorhouse and will walk to Utah. ular teachprs who were competent to give the children a start In the r.'-w official language and a few Spaniards were found who could and would help them. Then some of the American women here took hold and the English department was pretty well equipped. An astonishing increase in the num ber of pupils was the immediate re sult. Men and women applied as well as the children. The Filipinos are eager to learn English and they display an astonishing aptitude for It. They came in such r.umlw-rs that it was necessary to establish an age limit, and now only children between 6 and 14 are admit ted to the schools. There are more than 5,000 pupils, and there Is hardly for them all in the thirty-two school rooms which have been established since Father McKinnon took hold of the system. In general the curriculum of the Ma nila schools is not extendtd or ad vanced. The simplest rudiments are taught for the most part, but on the whole the work under Father McKin non has been very successful, and it is almost entirely due to his untiring energy and interest In the work that this is so. The schools have closed now for the long summer vacation, and there will be no effort to select a new superintendent until it is certain that Father McKinnon is not coming back. Naturally he desires to go home with his regiment and be mustered out with the boys with whom he started from San Francisco last summer. But he has become so much Interested In his work out here and in the people with whom that work has thrown him In contact that he is more than willing to come back and go on with the work. The Archbishop of Manila Is very anx ious to have him return, and will have him appointed his own coadjutor If the padre does come back. Father McKin non certainly has done very excellent work here, and a lot of it, and it will be extremely difficult to find a man to take his place. Also, but that is of no consequence, it will be extreme ly difficult for the man, whoever he may be. New York Sun. Mrs. Ada Brown Talbot of New York, editor of the Clubwoman, says that the most extraordinary club she ever ran across is conducted by a demure and dignified little woman of 7, the daughter of a club president. The edi tor called one day and was received by her little friend with open arms. "At last I've got a chair," she said. "I am very glad, my dear." said the editor. "I hope it is comfortable and pretty." "Oh it is not for me; it's for my club." "I didn't know you had a club." "Of course I have Just like mamma. My dolly Is president, and I got the chair for her. You see," she continued in a whisper, "there's only dollies in it, and the dolly that makes the most noise is president, Just like mamma's club. That's m ydolly. She talks when you push her back. I broked the spring and now she talks till she Is runned down. So she's president. Don't you think that's nice?" And Mrs. Talbot said she did. Susan B. Anthony says all men are bad. How can Susan know? Some of her sex say "you can never know a man until you live with him, the mean thing." IN TRANSVAAL. strength in the fighting line. Its pres ence will Impress upon the civilized world two ereat truths first, that "Great Britain" is not an empty phrase, and secondly, that we should not have obtained this large measure of volun tary support unless the cause for which we are .fighting were a Just cause the cause of those equal rights which we have so freely conceded to the people of our colonies, those rights which have been so persistently denied to the peo ple of the South African republic. Leo Frankcl, a Chicago peddler who sold books, argued for nearly an hour with Mrs. August Schaak of 207 Fletch er street, to induce her to buy a pho tograph album. When she agreed to take one he dropped dead. At first Mrs. Schaak refused to buy anything, but finally he went out to his wagon, which had been left standing in the street, and brought forth an album with a bright green cover, which he offered for $. She exclaimed that she would buy it. "At that moment," said Mrs. Schaak, In telling about the affair, "I looked up and saw the- man looking at me with an expression of bewilder ment on his countenance. The next in stant he staggered and sank Into a chair, his limbs twitching convulsive ly." 'Mrs. Schaak set her little boy for a doctor. When he arrived at the house life had passed from the body of the peddler. The physician pronounced the case one of heart failure, superinduced by a mental shock. The modern apartment house, with Its convenient methods of housekeep ing; the kindergarten, where young children are taught and entertained at the same time, much better than they would be at home all show the tend ency of the century to allow the mother the mainspring of the household to assume professional or other employ ment If she wishes. Personal and Otherwise. Oom Paul's war department la sadly out of work. He Is utterly unable to compete with the enemy in Kaffir grams. So far as heard from, the English writer of "Hoch der Kaiser" is not pushing the sale of his song In Lon don. Not Just now. The war hero who lives up to the public Ideal has a greater Job on his hands than any encountered by him on the field of battle. When the shouting and the tumult of the Washington gossip mongers died the latter were In a condition to appre ciate the sorrowB of the Spaniards at Cavlte, one May morning. The furore over Dewey's deed In Washington has turned on another sub ject. There's a real duke In town and society Is all a-trcmble. Children must have something to play with. Experts figure that Boston drinks more whisky than any other city in the country, and are surprised because the drinkers maintain their perpendicu lar. Those experts "don't know beans." Washington Is hotly in favor of "be nevolent assimilation" In the Philip pines, but when it comes to a like pol icy at Its own door, why the dark skinned people are forcibly excluded from opera house. X woman, Mrs. Mary P. glosson, la the regular chaplain of. the Wyoming state penitentiary. Miss Ruth Underhill, this year's golf champion, Is a granddaughter of the late Charles A. Dana Mrs. Jefferson Davis Is a good Greek scholar and her favorite reading iJ among the classics ofthat language, a volume of which she has always at hand. Miss Garriock, superintendent of the English army nursing service, and her seven sisters, who were also train ed nurses, were the fiist regular n.irses to arrive at the seat of war hi South Africa. The Boston women who shook hands with Admiral Dewey during his recent visit to that city have made a fad of delicately framing the glove they wore upon that occasion. The Daughters of the Confederacy Is raising money in aid of Mrs. "Stone wall" Jackson, who is very poor, in 111 health and almost blind at her home in Charlotte, N. C. She is said to be suf fering from an incurable disease. They said at the Denver State Fed eration that It was the little women who did the talking. They made the tiektack and the big women made the wheels go around. It was also said at the meeting that when there was a squabble about some point of order it was caused by the little women talking to make themselves manifest. Though barely out of her teens and an heiress to $10,000,000, Miss Josephine Drexel may take the veil and give her fortune to the church. Her aunt, now Mother Catherine, has almost persuad ed her to this decision, several years as a nun having led the aunt to seek: her niece as a convert. MH! Drexel la a beautiful girl, tall and Talr, with a marked resemblance to Mrs. Grover Cleveland. She has two sisters, each of whom married a son of Admiral Dahlgren. A woman who is making a good In come In growing daffodils, Mrs. Roy Wandesforde Kersey of California, does not recommend the business as one any woman who has not learned tc work can take up. She devoted eight years to the study of the subject, and makes a specialty of only the one flower. She has her flowers on the mai'ket early la the season, and when the flowers be come comomn she devotes herself to the bulbs, which form the chief part of her business. Frills of Fashion. Camel's hair cloth, very soft and fleecy, is one of the dress materials very much, liked for morning wear. A coat back with basque effect and a bolero front forms one of the new bodices on an imported gown. One of the fads of youthful women this winter will be that of wearing a very long round boa of cinnamon bear fur, with a huge directoire muff to match. Silver fox boas with, two feet and the pointed head of the animal at one end, and two feet and the bushy tail at the other, are decidedly the fashion, for young women especially. Birds of all kinds are well represent ed in millinery, but the pigeon and seagull are quite the most stylish of all, and especially with chinchilla, which forms a pretty winter hat. Some of the most attractive of the new long cloaks are those made of dove-gray woman's cloth, fur-lined and trimmed outside with standing collar and hood-revers of chinchilla fur. The latest novelty in fur Jackets is a Jaunty little affair of broad tall finish ed around the edges with, stitched, bands of velvet, velvet revers and a high flaring collar of chinchilla. The new toques are considerably larger than former shapes. They are wider and are therefore becoming to women with slender faces, when the trimmings are not arranged too straight and high. . Pink in every tint and tone will be used this winter for evening toilets of satin matelasse, repped silk, taffeta, plain satin duchesse, Liberty satin, un der various beautiful transparent tex tiles also of this lovely color; and for handsome garnitures on dress toques and bonnets, facings for velvet round hats and linings for velvet or cream white cloth capes for opera or theater wear. . Swan's-down, thibet and collors ot white polar bear pelts are in fashion as a decoration for evening wraps of white, pnlk or Parma violet cloth, scar let kersey or satin matelasse in a mix ture of pale, soft pastel tints on a cream or tea-rose pink ground. These soft, white fur trimmings are far more becoming to the majority of women than the opaque pearl white of the erine. . It Is Quite the thing this season to have the underskirt of a costume made of lighter instead of darker fabric than the long overdress or redingote. Some times this skirt is of ladies' cloth, cam el's hair, or vicuna; again it is of vel vet bayadere corduroy, heavy-ribbed material in silk or wool, or plain French broadcloth, bordered with nar row bands of mink, Persian lamb or Astrakhan fur. Domestic Pleasantries. New Orleans Times :The Wife I won der why little Ethel is so disobedient, John? The Husband I don't know, my dear, unless your marrying me against your parents' wishes has something to do with it. Chicago Tribune: "Anyhow," bellow ed the husband, "you can't say any body drove you to this marriage!" "No!" shrieked the wife. "You per suaded me to elope with yovu'n an au tomobile!" Somervllle Journal; The average far mer's wife don't know how badly she Is treated In the matter of dress unless she subscribes for a fashion magazine that shows her monthly all the latest styles. Chicago Post: "What Is there so re markable about her?" "Why. she's the women who never kept house in her life and yet she doesn't think she could settle the servant girl problem." Pittsburg Chronicle: "Yes,'.' repeated Mr. Beechwood, "my wife is certainly a very capable woman." "Of course, wa know that," replied Mr. Greenfield, "but in what capacity Is she especially pro ficient?" "I was Just thinking that last Christmas I made her a present of fountain pen. She ha been uBlng that pen ever since and it Is sllll In excel lent order." Chicago News: "Yes," said the sad eyed passenger, "my wife was the belle of the town when I courted her and I had rivals by the score." "But you suc ceeded In winning the prize Just the same, ch?" observed the hardware) drummer. "I don't know. I don't know," answered the other, a far-away look In his eye, "but I married bar, anyway."