Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 1900)
RKHEST GOLD DIGGINGS IN THt WOULD. Noise Gty. Alaska. Where Men Have Been Digging the Valuable Stud Out o( tbe Beach. Report* at rtrh finding* of gold at Cape Nome. Alaska, have bees of un 0—1 interest la and around Boston. Icmw ff<g Che resident* of Nome nijr are a number of men whose homes are is or near Boston, says a writer In the New England Home Mag* atlas. Nome City Is oa Norton sound, about miles northwest at the mouth of *he Ynhon floor. There are a number of rtrh rlaims along the «reeks a short t stance inland but the most remark able phase of Nome City mining is trse bench digging Ooid is found in rich quantities in the sand which lines the snore. tiaM In in* nek for miles to the west of Cape Nome the beach runs straight away iu a •trip of fide land, varying from forty to sixty fort in width between high *nd low water mark. extending up to the “tundra" or black alluvial soil, which Is from three to §ve feet higher than the beach proper. All of this tondra and all the terri tary along the cteeks and rivers east rnd went for thirty or forty miles and barb into the mountain* for ten or ' welve m lea had been staked. but on the long strip of tide lands no man had a better claim than another, or could hate, under the tide-land laws, and here the grand army of gold seek ers camped and In very short order bad converted the barren *trand into a site of tremendous and enthusiastic industry At the same time business *f all kind* began to respond to the ta-om from the brarh. and the usual ‘ olloction at gambling hells, saloons and dance halls went into operation. A few weeks ago it aras estimated that l .wi* or 1JM miners were at work on the bench, extend ng west for twenty miles. All these work with rockers, and they occupy just as much territory to the man or group as can work it It In nod Onmtai for one small square hit of hunch to pan out flu to ft; an boor, hot. of coots*, the span- is »u<»n exhaust* * and the lucky digger must Wewtow Via si How*. Albert J. Lose of Newton Highlands Is one of the lucky miners who has pcodted by the tnd at Nome City With cculd not enjoy civilization, the great comfort me miss. When you see strong tren sit dom*i and cry and then get drunk for the lack of a home, you un derstand how much it is missed.” Fmilnlnr Financiering?. That women are the best financiers of he world we have often had oppor tunity to acknowledge, says the llono is it? If we keep lip our gloominess shall we not be a very ugly race in a few more generations? Let us try tc cheer up and be gay. This is not such a bad world after all. We are not all of us starving to death or in danger of being eaten by plutocratic octopuses.— New York Journal. TESTAMENT FOR AN EMPRESS. China’s Sovereign Han the Costliest Copy Ever Printed. From Leslie’s Weekly: The poorest can now buy the new testament in English for a nickel and yet—strange contrast!—perhaps the most sumptu ous copy of the new testament in ex istence is that splendid edition de luxe presented to the dowager empress oi BEACH COMBING AT NOME CITV. 1 • :r iph it t ie novel method of digging gold at Nome City.—Sent from Alaska by a Newton Man. win Independent. We have seen them ' at the auction sales when they made a bargain" by buying an article they Lad no use for whatever, and we have ►»** n them haggling over the price of «heap <alico for a reduction in price of ime ««nt a yard, and then triumphant ly carry their purchase to a fashion able dressmaker and paying her $10 fur making a ‘morning" dress. This morning we could uot help smiling while watching a lady credited with possessing good business sense, buying ‘ Chinese birds" on board a mail .-tean.ej. haggling over the price of the j China on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday, the presentation having been made in due form by the British and American ministers. The book is a royal quarto volume. 2x10x13 inches in size and was manufactured by the Presbyterian press and Canton silver smiths. It has silver covers, embossed with bamboo and bird designs, and is printed on the finest paper with the largest type, and with a border of gold encircling each page. It was encased in a solid silver casket, ornamented with symbolical designs, the whole weighing IOV2 pounds, and upon the cover of the casket there is a gold plate which relates that the boolv is 1 the gift of the Christian women in China. Not long after the presenta tion of this magnificent volume the eunuchs were sent from the palace to the bookstore to ask for a common copy, so that the empress and her ladies might compare the two texts. Surely the circulation of such a book is one of the wonders of the world! “Age cannot wither, nor custom stale, its infinite variety.” The Czarina anil Her Chililren. No royal children are surrounded by Mich imposing ceremonial or regarded with such superstitious interest and reverence as are the three infant daughters of the emperor and empress of Russia. The fai t that a son and heir has been so eagerly awaited in vain is not allowed to militate the smallest degree against the care lav ished on the baby grand duchesses, al though. according to present Russian law. they can never hope to succeed their father on the imperial throne. After the birth of Grand Duchess Olga, the eldest, the empress wrote a touch ing letter in which she said: “Every one except ourselves seems disappoint ed that baby was not a boy. For 11s there is no question of sex; our child is simply a gift from God.” The czar ina prefers that her children's nurses should be English or Scotch. Besides nominally they have twenty such at tendants each, drawn from various Russian provinces. Immense sums are lavished on the dainty lace trimmed and embroidered garments of the czar's daughters and the magnificence of their surroundings is medieval in barbaric splendor. Everything in the --—I PREPARED FOR A LASKAX WINTER. Bartn wrn4 X««tM mm, Who are spe&dni? the winter in Xonie City, a richer r*!4 section t ban the Klondike. k*« other mm from Boston and ck-ia- , fty. he left home for Alaska in Febni- : ary. lfltL He rutted Havtua City and Forty Mile creek, bulk famous mining section*. b«t was better pleased with Nome City. Mr. Lowe evidently finds time to Indulge la politics, for be U now a common councilman of Nome cay. Some eatracts from a letter which he ha* written tell of life in Nome City more graphically than any of the published reports from that section. lie wrote: **Thia is probably the last Inter t can write to you before tar winter shuts ns in from the out- | aide world and perhaps until next the Ice. which I think doubtful, as it not be carried hundred* of miles by dog*, and that Is very uncertain around the Hrhrtng *ea TypSM r**»» rsbiiini. "A great deal of sickness prevails, and In nearly every «ase it i* typhoid fever caused by sleep ng cm the wet pound and living ou beaus. We have built a good hospital. In the first two day* four men died in it. Ten have been burled and a number sent on stretcher* ou hoard the steamers. Our put** department selected some of the rough* and shipped them out of the section. Capt Jarvis taking them on the revenue ruttrr Hear Here are same of the prices we pay foal. |12C a tuu- lumber. fJld to fab* a thousand; j fr o f!i per cut; all canned good*. 75 rent* a can; sugar. S5 cent* a poun!. It Is hard to buy anything at tho*e prim*. No coal or turn tier .*u be nought Cigar* and drink* are » ' cents onrh. beer, fil a bottle: whisky. fS,~ Mr Lowe says the gold t*rpuMi about Xnmc la more general thiu la thr Klondike country He think* sev eral new town site* will be opened t;p l ear X«Cf before spring. riMi«f m* «>w'n«»tii Mr Invr U)» there iri gr-.it open ings at Koose Tor tug <ompaniew to work large pirns ol ground by buying up the dolma which wo_U be hard for a singhr owner to work. 1 fed fully warranted in prophesy - tag that this country Is going to be the greatest mining dfiMKrj In the OaMhfi nudes. tf not In the world It is aif f I tout from the Klondike country. whet* the gold la deep and spotted, in this country the deposit 1* very gen eral. and. oo far ns known very rich. -We hare two aorfous drawbacks. The CstSfcttc condition* cannot be ' bird* and beating down the seller of , seven fine specimens by fifty cents of ih»- original price. In the meantime b*-i hack was waiting, and the driver charging. She made her bargain, however, saved fifty cents on the birds an i paid the hackman one dollar for waning. That is female financiering. •tr» W> * (iloouijr NationT What is the matter with the people in our streets? Do you notice how gloomy all their faces are? Should j ' ELECTION DAY l N NOME CITY. * 4 the main street in the new boom city of Alaska, where the gold is dug from t he beach. -i —i.ru-L-i- jL-L-L-u-u-u-i. Lrunj-Lru-u-u-LTLnj-j-ij-u-u-u r. n n nru'u i_n n n n n you we a mau or woman smiling or laughing on a New York sidewalk you would probably say to yourself: "I wonder what is wrong with that per son." Such laughter as cue hears is usually aroused by the quotation of *<m* more or less stupid juke, or more frequently by a misfortune that has befallen a fellow creature. If a man slips on a corner, falls or bumps his head, that becomes for the time being a cheerful corner in New York. But we don't seem to lie able to find any cause for cheerfulness in bright sun light. or blue skies, or any of the other little blessings which Providence be j stows upon us. What is the matter with us? There is plenty of gayety in France, in Germany, in Italy. There is even a little lc England. Why should this nation be so gloomy? Do we live too test, work too hard? What imperial nurseries is of gold or silver, and the richest furs, quilted silks and velvets are used where in other royal nurseries quite ordinary materials would be called into requisition. M:ule Hill Too. A small boy from the slums had beer [ brought into the mission school, anc for a couple of Sundays he had been instructed in the rudiments. On the third Sunday he. brought with him his brother William. To test his memorj j the teac her began to go over the pre S vious lessons. "Who made you?” she asked. "God,” he replied, promptly j “And what else did God make?” Tht youngster studied for a moment anc looked around hopelessly till he noticec his brother, then his face brightened "He made Bill, too, I guess,” he an swered, triumphantly. THE LUCKIEST MAN. I. “Ho, you beggars, why don't you raise a row an’ give us a chance o' fightin’ and’ glory, an’ maybe promo tion?'* Corporal MaeBean shook his fist savagely at the colossal barrier of mountain peaks that barred the hori zon, rummaged among his pockets for his tobacco and pipe, and sat himself down to smoke furiously and to think upon the incomparable beauty of Miss Janet Sloane. Indirectly Miss Sloane was the cause of the remarks with which my story opens, remarks addressed not to the mountains, but to the swarthy, turbulent throat-cutiing crew who in habited them, for there was, for once in a way, peace upon the north western border of India, and Corporal MaeBean was thirsting for war and promotion—all for the sake of the bright eyes of Miss Janet Sloane, the daughter and heiress of Sergt. Sloane of the Sappers. Miss Sloane was certainly a very pretty girl. So it happened that many gallant sergeants and privates without num ber, and even a sergeant-major, who possessed house property at home in distant Woolwich, were all sighing more or less for the love of Janet Sloane. But Miss Sloane encouraged none of them, but smiled impartially upon them all, protesting all the time that she couldn’t a-bear soldiers. And even to the most hardened and callous warrior a smile from Janet was an experience not easily to be forgotten. Corporal MaeBean was not a recent victim of Janet’s wonderful smile. Over six months had elapsed since he had first fallen under the influence of that fatal smile, and, unlike most of his fellow-victims, he had not recov ered. un this particular afternoon he could find no refuge in day dreams, for that very morning he had seen Janet smile with divine sweetness up on the sergeant-major,and the thought of that smile, and of the legendary house property at Woolwich, rankled in his bosom. In this inventory he was ungrateful enough to forget a very important item in his claims upon the attention of Janet Sloane. Alio, Beano!” cried a little voice at his elbow. Corporal MacBean turned, and the careworn puckers in his bronzed face smoothed out as his gaze met two round blue eyes fixed upon him. 'I his was the forgotten item—Miss \ ictoria Donelly, daughter and sole heiress of Capt. Donelly, the special charge of Miss Sloane, and the darl ing of the whole garrison of Fort Curzon. Miss Victoria was just three and a half years old, and was already begin ning to develop the faculty of observ ation to an abnormal extent. She knew every man in the garrison pretty "ell by name—even the Ghoorkas, whose names were beyond all pronun ciation. She was very much attached to “Beano.” as she called Corporal Mac Bean, in accordance with the tradi tions of the garrison, and Beano shared in the popular adoration ac corded to tnis frail, motherless baby. Beano was always good for a game of horses, and once in harness would toss his head and paw the ground and curvet more nimbly than any real polo pony. Furthermore, he could dress rag dolls better than any other man in the garrison, the regimental tailors not excepted. “Good afternoon, missie,” replied Corporal MacBean in answer to a long, inquiring stare. “Private Doolan got the toothache,” announced Chubby solemnly. “Has he, missie?” replied the cor poral. “Yeth,” lisped Chubby, with import ance. “I heard the doctor pull it out in the 'othpital juth now. Private Doolan did ’oiler!” “Did he, missie?” inquired Corporal MacBean absently. He was wondering where Janet Sloane could be, for her little charge had evidently given her the slip dur ing their afternoon walk round the cantonments. “1 don’t think Private Dooln’th a very brave man,” continued Chubby, judicially. “Why not, missie?” asked the cor poral. “You wouldn’t holler if you had a tooth out, I know. Nurth said you wouldn’t, because you are too brave,” added Chubby emphatically. “Did she, though?” Corporal MacBean sat up with sud den interest. “When did she say that, missie?” he added, his face growing pale under the tan. “When Private Doolan said, ‘Yow. yow, yow!’ And 1 asked her if you would ’oiler like that.” “Did she, though, now!” said Cor poral MacBean with animation. “D’you know what I am going to make for you, missie?” “A wockin'-’orse?” inquired Miss Victoria affably, as she squatted down comfortably by his side. "Better than that. A whole bloom in’ Noah’s ark, full of lions an’ tigers an’ camels an’ cows an’ jackals. An' then there’ll be Shem, ’Am and Ja cob, in green hats an' yellow breeches-” "An’ red eoaths!” interposed Chub by breathlessly. “Of eourth they’d have red eoaths if they were in the service. Then there’d be yabbith-” “Of course there’d be rabbits, mis sie, with long ears-’” “Like some other donkeys I know of—leading that child away wher. I’m looking for her everywhere, thinking that some o’ those gun-stealing heath ens from over the border had gone and got hold of her! It’s ashamed o’ ye I am. Misther Corporal MacBean!” in terrupted a clear voice from the crest of the rampart. II. Corporal MacBean sprang to his feet like a shot. Then he saluted and blushed down to his heels, for there stood Miss Janet Sloane, in all the glory of her white-stringed bonnet, regarding him with a none too friend ly look in her fine eyes. “I beg your pardon. Miss Sloane,” said Corporal MacBean humbly and ponderously. “I was not aware that you were in any anxiety about Miss Victoria, cr I would have brought her to you at once. 1 -was just telling missie that I was going to make her a Noah’s ark. “A nice Noah's ark you'd make!" replied Miss Janet with scorn. "I wonder you don’t try and improve your mind, instead of loafing about, reading a lot of trashy novels, and putting ideas into that child's head!” The rank injustice of this charge reduced Corporal MacBean to the dumb silence of utter astonishment. "You are unkind, nurth.” piped Chubby’s little voice. “An’ you told me that Corporal MacBean was so brave an’ good only just now when Private Doolan hollered.” “Hold your tongue, miss, and come along o’ me at once!” cried Miss Sloane, blushing furiously and seizing Chubby’s arms. “Don’t I keep telling you that no good’ll come of you always talking to a parcel o’ nasty common soldiers, learning their bad manners and their impidence? I wish you a very good afternoon. Corporal Mac Bean,” she added. "And I’ll trouble you not to go asking sneaking ques tions of a poor little innocent child about people who don't want to have anything to do with the likes of you! A corporal, indeed!” Janet snorted indignantly as she , disappeared down the other slope of the rampart. And Corporal MacBean sat down again in despair, for he did not understand women. One thing, he decided, he must distinguish himself st on that he might have an opportun ity of asking Miss Sloane to share his lot as a sergeant. The opportunity came a few nights afterward. A half hour or so before dawn three shots rang out. Then a sentry was found lying curled up on ! the ground, with a long Afghan knife through his shoulder. “More rifles stolen!” suggested those who came running up. The gar rison of Fort Curzon were wrell accus tomed to night visits from the well greased and slippery rifle thieves from the hills. But the word soon passed that something more precious than rifles had gone this time. Chubby was missing. Then it was remembered how ven geance deep and dire had been sworn against Capt. Donnelly, in that he had procured expatriation to the Andaman islands for the last pair of rifle thieves who had been captured within the con fines of Fort Curzon. The bugles blared out the “boot and saddle.” Corporal MacBean heard a SALUTED AND BLUSHED. scream from Janet that cut through his heart like a knife. A red mist shut across his eyes, and he rode like a madman toward the mountains ahead, losing all sense of time in the beat of the wildly galloping hoofs. The best horse in the garrison was his. The dawn broke in a swimming mist of blue-grav. Then the distant moun tain tops grew pink, and Capt. Mac Bean rode on with his eyes fixed on a cloud of dust a mile ahead. There were four of them. One, two three, four, he counted. Then he re membered that he was unarmed. A rocky defile opened around him as he drew steadily up to the group of horsemen that galloped wildly ahead of him. One of them turned in his saddle, and a shot came whistling back. Then they all drewr rein, and a corporal’s heart beat thick and fast as he saw a white patch drop from the saddle bow of the leader. It was Chubby, unharmed; for she ran a little way, then paused, and perched herself on a small bowlder. The horse beneath him thundered on. He saw the horsemen draw to gether, w'hile four rifles were leveled at his breast. A spurt of flame, a sharp whistling about his ears, and he was upon them. One horse rolled over before his as he crashed into the group and felt his outstretched hand grip the beard and the jaw of the man he had marked. There was a sharp jerk. His knees tightened on the sad dle with a grip that twisted the mus cles of his thighs to writhing knots of redhot iron. He heard a crash behind him. and saw’ that his right fist gripped a handful of dark hair. He reigned his horse upon his haunches and turned again. Two men lay on the ground very still, and a small voice cried from a neighboring bow’Ider: “Go it. Beano!” The other two men had dismounted and were crouching behind a bowlder, which quickly sent forth two jets of (lame, seemingly emptying MacBean's saddle. He had fallen on the body of one of the men who lay so still, and his enemies arose as they saw his body twitch. Corporal MacBean was simulating the last agonies of death as he slipped one of the scattered car tridges into the breech of his fallen foe’s rifle. Two knives snicked out of their sheaths as his adversaries ran toward him. Then the corporal, cud dling his rifle between his knees, Bis ley fashion, sighted and fired. The rigm-nand man toppled and fell, while the other doubled and ran just 300 yards before the pursuing bullet took him between the shoulder blades, so that his soul went out in one great cough. Then he ran and picked up the little white figure that danced excitedly on the bowlder, straining her to his broad chest in a paroxysm of relief. “I was fwightened a little bit until I saw you coming,” admitted Chubby, “but I didn’t ’oiler. What makes you shake so. Beano? Are you cold, too?” “It is a bit chilly, missie, isn’t it?” said the corporal, as he wrapped her in his jacket and tarried her to his horse. "What’s the nutter with those naughty men?” added Chubby. “They’ve gone to sleep.” “Yes. missie; they’re very tired through being up so early,” answered the corporal, grimly. “Now you go to sleep, too, while we t ide back and find Janet.” • • * m “Why do you keep on kissing Bea no?” asked Chubby of Janet, ever so long after they had found her.—Lon don Answer. IRVING’S WAY WITH CALLERS. Story of a Man Whom He Scared Near ly to Death. “I was scared half out of my wits the first and only time I ever met Sir Hen ry Irving,” said an actor to the Chat tanooga Times man. “It was in New York, during his first visit of ’96, and I was anxious to ask him about a young relative of mine who was then a member of his London Lyceum com pany. A mutual friend scribbled a line of introduction on a card, which I sent up at his hotel directly after he re turned from a matinee performance. I was shown to his apartments, and found him seated by a table with his chin on his hand. He murmured some sort of greeting.motioned me to a chair and fixed me with his eyes, which, as you know, are extraordinarily somber and piercing. His eyebrows, moreover, are the most remarkable I ever saw in my life. They are enormous, jet black thatches, and in moments of concen tration the outer ends go up and the inner ends go down, giving his face a Mephistophelean expression that is absolutely hypnotic. I was nervous to begin with, because I have always re garded Irving with almost superstitious reverence, and when I began my little tale those terrible eyebrows bent down on me like an incubus. The more 1 tried to be brief and cle*r the worse I wobbled, and all the while Irving's strange scrutiny was growing fiercer ana more intense. He said not a word, but those deep, glowing eyes of his seemed to bore me through like two augers, and before I reached the point of my errand I lost my head entirely and jumped up to beat an ignomini ous retreat. “Stay!” he exclaimed im periously, and for over a minute he continued to glare at me in absolute silence. Then suddenly he smiled and scribbled something on a piece of pa per. ’You will pardon me,’ he said, suavely. ’I was trying to recall a name and have just remembered it. May I trouble you to repeat what you have been saying?’ At that I realized that he hadn’t been seeing me at all and I gasped with relief. Then I went over my request. He listened attentively, and gave me the information I de sired. It turned out to be a charming interview. I don't think he ever dreamed what a bad quarter hour I put in.” Hindoo Idol Fulfilled the I.egend. Mystics will be interested in the dis covery that Mme. Carnot, the widow of the assassinated president of France, in her will, has left a request to her children to rid themselves of a certain Hindoo idol which was in her posses sion. This idol—a little one, of stone curiously carved, as are most of these objects—was presented to Carnot by a learned friend on his return from In dia. Carnot then was merely minister of finance, and did not expect to attain the presidency. The friend warned Carnot that the legend connected with the iucl was that it assured supreme power to its owner and also that the owner would die a violent death by the knife. It had belonged to the dynasty of the kings of Khadjurao, and the last rajah, having arrived at power by its means, and fearing the dagger, sought to conjure death by giving it away. In terested by this story. Mme. Carnot ac cepted the little fetich with pleasure. M. Carnot attained the presidency, and Mme. Carnot wrote at the time to the friend in India that it was “all due to the fetich.” Carnot died by the knife. Musical Statistics. To those who are studying the times the phenomenal increase in the num ber of women who are playing the vio lin. the ’cello, the double bass, clari net. cornet, horn and other wind in struments is a matter of astonishment. Fifteen years ago the piano was the first study of nearly half the students of music; now it is the first study of only one-third, while the number of those studying the violin has increased more than four-fold. Fifteen years ago the male students numbered nearly a quarter of the total, while today they have decreased to a little more than a sixth. A writer in the London Specta tor. who has examined the figures of the entries of the Royal Academy of Music for 1884 and 1899. has found the following curious results: In 1884, out of a total of 173 entries (131 female and 42 male). 83 chose the piano as their first study, 72 singing and 10 the violin. In 1872. out of 220 entries. (1S2 female and 38 male). 94 chose singing, 73 the piano and 45 the violin. Schoolboy Ks*ay«. Among a number of amusing school boys’ essays contributed to Cas sel's Saturday Journal is the fol lowing by a youthful essayist, aged 10: “Kruger and Kannerbulism is one. He is a man of blud. Mr. Chamberling has wrote to him sayin come out and fite or else give up the blud of the English you have took, he is a boardutchman and a wickid heethin. lord Kitchener has been sent for his goary blud and to bring back his scanderlus head ded or alive.” By another juvenile writer Tennyson is thus summarized: “Tenyson wrote butifull poims with long hair and studid so much that he sed mother will you call me airly dear. his most greatest poim is called the idoll King. he was made a lord but he was a good man and w'rote many hoads. he luved our queen so much that he made a poim to her calld the fairy Queen.” ■ ■ - ■ —.— — W»H Informed. Patron—"Are you sure you know all about this girl?" Manager of employ ment agency—“Well, I ought to. She has been in my own family for the past week.”—Detroit Free Press. When men have more money than they need they think they need more than they have. WITH “PALM OIL.” Some Inside Points on How Chinese Concessions Are Secured.* The usual procedure in securing Chi nese concessions is somewhat as fol lows: There first comes to Peking the advance agent, the typical concession hunter, to look over the ground and find out what China has to give away that can be taken up by a public com pany and secure the support of the share-buying public abroad. Some times he is sent as the representative of a group of capitalists who have a definite idea of what they wish to se cure, and in such cases he is furnished with formidable letters of credit, to supply the very necessary sinews of this financial war. Sometimes he comes unsupported. and, having "hooked" some conditional grant, posts hot-footed to London or New York to see what ear. be done with it. Occasionally promoters are of a dif ferent class entirely; namely, the agents of foreign governments, trying, under the cloak of private enterprise, to advance a political design in some of the empire in which these govern ments seek a predominating influence, says Charles Denby in the Forum. Ex perience has proved that these advance agents need not be gentlemen of the highest education or refinement, but they do need to be endowed with a cer tain instinct for diplomacy in its lower forms, and they must be. above all. shrewd and persistent, of indomitable perseverance, and with a faculty for making friends. Scruples as to meth ods are with them superfluous, but a willingness anti an ability in the ap plication of "palm cil” are indispens able. They must, also, be men of their word toward those who work with them. What they promise to those who aid in the negotiation of their contracts they must faithfully fulfill; because while Chinese business integ rity does not rise in the Quixotic height of refusing to enter into cor rupt contracts, it expects scrupulous exactitude in their execution. The promise of the promoter to his Chin ese aiders and abettors in social cir cles becomes a debt of honor, pay ment of which is. or should be, abso lutely sure. On such terms as these have offices in China been secured, promotions obtained, enterprises au thorized. for hundreds of years; and the foreign promoter must, as his initial step, give his adherence thereto. The method of procedure of the ad vance agent is to make the acquaint ance of the mandarins of Pekin; secur ing here and there an ally and a friend. Then, at some favorable mo ment. he lays his project before the proper department of the government; relying on the support of his friends to secure it favorable consideration. One of the greatest concessions re cently signed in China enriched in its negotiations numberless officials. The writer himself saw a promissory note for 135.000 payable to a small official upon formation of a certain company. This was but one palm "greased," and the outlay on this head by the conces sionaire must have amounted to hun dreds of thousands of dollars. For the consolation of future promoters it must be added that methods are now much simplified; such liberal “squeez es" being no longer necessary. TO CUARD QUEEN VICTORIA. Horsi-s of Royul Stable Taught Not to Fear Automobiles. Few lives in this world are watched with such care as Queen Victoria's, and those of the members of the royal family. This is an old saying, but it is particularly true in the case of what might be called automobilism. which as yet is only a hobby in England. Still steps have just been taken to protect her majesty from any danger while driving through the use of automo biles. All the horses in the royal sta ble have been drilled in the presence of an automobile. The horses in the three stable yards at Windsor were first led and then driven around a sta tionary car. Then the car was pro pelled around the horses. Finally the car was moved between the horses in a dangerous way as they stood near each other. The automobilist finally made the car as objectionable as pos sible. The horses were very amenable, as they had already been schooled to such noises as the playing of bands, the noise of cannon and railroad train< and the cheering of crowds. The best bred horses proved to be the least sen sitive to the novelty, a pure bred Arab stallion showing the least concern of all.—New York Sun. Priceless Volume. About four years ago a London blacksmith noticed on a second-hand bookstall a very old book priced at 2 cents. He bought it, and after at tempting to read it, threw it aside and soon forgot it. One of his lodgers happening to see the book recently, and, noticing that it was dated 1450. asked permission to show it to the British museum authorities. A day or two later the blacksmith was request ed to call, and the secretary, to his sur prise, asked him what he would take for the book. In some slight confus ion the man said. “What will you give?” “Will $250 suit you?” was the answer of the secretary. The black smith was so dumfounded that the secretary thought he was ridiculing his offer, and thereupon immediately increased it to $500. which was at once accepted. Sooner than have lost the book, however, which was the first book that Gutenberg ever printed, and. therefore almost priceless, the mus eum authorities would have paid al most any sum that had been asked.— Cincinnati Enquirer. A Glob* Trotter. Customer (Backhampstead, Ct.)— Wal, I don't know about that calico; I think I’ve seed better. Storekeeper— Nancy Jane Bosworth, there ain't no better calico than that on alrth! I know—for I have traveled! I have been to Springfield, I have been to Hartford, and I have been to New Haven! In fact, Nancy Jane Bos worth. I have traveled this wide w'orld over! So you can safely take my judgment ’bout that cal.co!—Puck. No Difference. Parson Featherflew—Yo’ doan’ need to be fear’d ob me, fowl; I’s er minis tah ob de gospel. Musical rooster—All coons look alike to me.—Judge.