PREMATURE EXPLOSION COSTS
LIVES OF BRAVE SOLDIERS
Three men were killed and ten
others injured in a premature explo
sion of the charge in a 12-inch mortar
sun at Fort Banks, Winthrop, Mass.,
Oct. 15.
AU the dead and injured wrere mem
bers of the 89th company of coast ar
tillery, commanded by Lieut. Lefort,
Of the injured, Private Tomlinson is
not expected to live. All the other
injured are resting comfortably, and
it is said that none is in a serious
ComBtion, injuries consisting princi
r^rtly of burns.
Never before in the history of Bo§
Center—1st Sergt. Thomas Foley, Injured. Lower Left-hand Corner—
Private Edward T. Higgins, Killed. Lower Right-Hand Corner—Corporal
Arthur Bannister, Injured.
ton's modern coast defence was such a
report heard. There was an ominous
explosion, not so loud as that of a well
regulated breech-loading rifle dis
charging its proper shot, but one to
thrill the senses of the artillerists who
heard it.
Immediately following this, the
southwest pit of the mortar battery
vomited forth a cloud of smoke and
suffocating noxious gases. More than
fifty men were thrown gasping in inde
scribable confusion for the moment
beneath that cloud.
Fire call rang out shrilly its pene
trating treble.
Instantly the fort was closed to all
corners by cordon as impervious as
wall of steel. “Litters!” shouter Ser
geant Donnan. and the hospital squad
ran for the flaming volcano. As the
cloud of smoke lifted, even stern disci
pline could not restrain the emotions
from a spectacle so appalling as that
whieft greeted the comrades who has
tened to succor.
It was but momentary, however,
since Capt. Merrill, officer of the day,
and Lieut. Lefort, acting in command
of the gun detachments at the bottom
of the pit, rallied the men who had
been so close to death at gun practice.
Within a few feet of the breech of
mortar No. 3 lay the headless body of
Sergt George J. Kevins, the acting
chief of the gun detachment In the
absence of its regular sergeant.
Close beside it was the terribly man
gled body of Private Edward Higgins,
IffcoBe duty as No. 1 man at the mor
J
r
12-in MORTAR Cun
NO- 2 MORTAR
V
w«eR* PRivAre \V
/4'CClNS WAS KILLtD*'*”
/
Btan
•lOCH
Piacram OP T^E ACCIDENT • POTTED LINES SHOWimg COuR.SE OF
- BREECH BLOCK •
tar had been to close and lock the
breech and fix the primer for the fir
ine
The right side of Higgins’ head was
blown completely away, the face itself
being split almost exactly in two
abore the chin. His right arm was
gone at the elbow and the body was in
other ways shockingly lacerated. Yet
the unfortunate man was still breath
ing, but only lived long enough to
reach the hospital.
Nearly a dozen yards away, at the
base of the solid parapet wall, lay the
limp and blackened body of Private
James W. Kelley who, as No. 3 on the
mortar, was the powder man who
placed the charge for the firing of the
projectile within the cavity of the
breech. Kelley had been blown
through the air directly at the south
west parapet wall and struck with
fearful impact against the solid pon
crcte. His body and face were badly
blackened and the man was evidently
killed at once by concussion.
All around No. 3 mortar lay the
bodies of the stunned and gasping
members of its crew. Their blouses
and other clothing were all on fire.
Under command of the officers of the
company at practice order was quickly
restored and discipline at once re
sumed. Buckets were brought and wa
ter thrown upon the burning uniforms,
and, as rapidly as possible, the litter
bearers removed the injured.
One glance at the breech of the mor
tar told the story. The entire breech
mechanisun was gone. Crank, con
sole and breech block were missing.
After careful search it was found that
the breech block, a solid cylinder of
steel, grooved to fit the threads of the
breech cavity, had been thrown back
by some unexplainable premature ex
plosion, and struck the muzzle cf mor
tar No. 2 seme yards in the rear, chip
ping out a big piece of steel from the
rim: thence had rebounded almost at
right angles, to be hurled across the
space of the pit, striking the concrete
wall on the same face that Kelley
struefc, and thence, deflected back
again, in a slightly downward course,
from its diminished energy, it tore a
big hole out of the “racer,” as the
mortar platform is termed, and finally
dropped almost exactly beneath the
muzzle of the mortar to which it be
longed.
The projectile, weighing nearly 800
pounds, was found remaining in the
gun nearly in the position in which it
had been placed for firing. Not a ves
tige remained of the silk bag contain
ing its seventy-five pounds of powder
for the charge required for the shot.
The broken mechanism of the breech,
crank and console were found dropped
in the pit directly beneath the mortar.
President to Hunt in Wyoming.
President Roosevelt will spend a
tew days hunting- big game in Wy
oming after, the presidential cam
paign. Hfe- will be the guest of “Buf
fcin Bfit”: Several Englishmen also
will be ta the party. Col. Cody is now
fai England, and has written that he
wftt return to American this month
md will leave for the Wefct with Pres
$ ident Roosevelt about the middle of
Kovember. He says that the Eng
■d. members of the party are friends
fee has made while abroad, and that
some of (hem are members of the no
bility.
Honors Worthily Worn.
Itew women have fitted into a new
sphere more- easily than Mrs.
Ssmcel Newhouse. wife of one of Col
orado's richest men. This charming
woman married Mr. Newhouse when
be was poor, and she had to do her
wmn cooking and washing. Now she
travel* in state; with two maids to
take care of her wardrobe, but neither
«t>e nor her husband makes the slight
cot effort to conceal their early, strug
gles. ijrs. Newhouse is said to own
one of the finest strings of pearls in
the world.-—Chicago Chronicle.
Emperor Lives Frugally.
The Emperor Francis Joseph of Aus
tria is a man of simple, frugal habits
wwfl s bard worker. He is an early
riser, and for many years after ascend
ing Urn throne he- was up at 5 o’clock
la the morning-to begin his day’s work
ottor • breakfast of coffee and and
Brand and bntter. The amount of
work be la able to get through is
amaatag. For recreation he goes to
was of hie shooting boxes for a few
flay* wearing the Tyrolese costume
arid devoting himself entirely to the
Works for Christian Homes.
Rev. William Colbert Detling of
Cleveland has prepared an interesting
service—that of dedicating a Chris
tian home. He reasons that the home
might be dedicated to Christian work
quite as much as the church, and he
has prepared a simple liturgical serv
ice with this in view. This Christian
home dedicatory service, as he calls
it, consists of an appropriate hymn,
scripture reading and responsive serv
ice, in which the pastor pledges the
home to the service of God. A prayer
of dedication follows, and then the ap
propriate song, “Home, Sweet Home.”
Should Be Interesting Book.
Edmond Duval, who for nearly half
a century has managed the Monte De
Piete in Paris, is about to retire from
his position. It was as a message boy
that he began his connection with
this the greatest pawnshop in the
world. He is now over 70 years old.
While at the head of affairs there he
succeeded in reducing the rate of in
terest from 9* to 7 per cent, his re
forms having resulted in saving 19,
000,000 francs to the republic. It is
said M. Duval will write a book of
reminiscences.
Early Excelled in Music.
Prof. Willy Hess, the Boston Sym
phony orchestra’s new concert mas
ter, began his musical studies when
six years old, and at the age of teD
he was touring Holland and was
looked upon as an infant prodigy.
Victoria’s Seal Still In Use.
Though King Edward has now been
on the throne for three years and
eight months, there is as yet no gen
eral seal bearing his eljagy and titles,
the great seal still in use being that of
Queen Victoria.
AS THE WORLD
REVOLVES
DEATH CALLS EX-GOV. CORNELL.
Former Chief Executive* of New York
Passes Away at 72.
, Alonzo B. Cornell, former governor
of New York, died at his home in
•thaca last week of Bright’s disease
after an illness of several months.
He was a son of Ezra Cornell, the
founder of Cornell university. Edu
cated at the Ithaca academy, young
Cornell at the age of 14 became a tele
graph operator, having been influenced
to embark in this work by reason of
his father’s connection with Prof. S.
F. B. Morse in the original develop
ment of the magnetic telegraph. Be
ginning at the bottom, he rapidly
pushed himself upward, and was pro
moted from one post of responsibility
co another until, after the experience
of more than twenty years in the vari
ous gradcss of telegraph service, Mr.
Cornell in 1868 was elected a director
of the Western Union Telegraph com
MGVZO £. C&&Y&Z *
pany, a position which he retained un
til 1899. He was also interested in
lake transportation and banking. Up
on the organization of the Republican
party he became affiliated with it and
soon took a prominent place in the
party counsels. For many years prior
to his election as governor he served
as chairman of the New York Repub
lican state committee.
PASSENGERS GOT OUT PAPER.
Delayed by Flood, They Passed Time
in Unique Way.
“The Daily Washout,” Volume 1, No.
1, was published at San Marcial, N.
M., on Oct. 1, 1904, by the passengers
of Santa Fe train No. 22, running be
tween El Paso and Kansas City. The
paper will be treasured by passengers
delayed by the recent floods in the
southwest. It contains a list of the
passengers on the train, including per
sons from points as far south as the
City cf Mexico, as l'ar north as St.
Paul and from San Francisco and
New York. One of the personals,
which is but a fair sample of the rest,
says: “Mr. Dick and Mr. Lester, the
‘Gold Dust Twins,’ will give a barn
storming show at the opera house
this evening.” Another one reads:
"Somebody who has seen the Primm
trunk in the baggage car has started
the report that Mr. and Mrs. Primm
are ‘enjoying’ their wedding trip.
When approached by our reporter, Mr.
Primm coughed and Mrs. Primm said:
’Are we, Jamie, dear?’ ”
ROCKHILL GOING TO CHINA.
Will Succeed Edwin H. Conger as
United States Minister.
William Woodville Rockhill, who
will succeed Edwin H. Conger as
United States minister to China, has
been director of the Bureau of Amer
ican Republics since 1899. He entered
the diplomatic service in 1884, when
he was appointed second secretary at
' fi7LL£4/r tfJ?OGiWZLl.>
Pekin, being promoted to secretary in
1885, and being made charge d’affaires
in Korea in 1886. Mr. Rockhill trav
eled extensively in the East, and upon
his return was made minister to
Greece, Roumania and Servia, and
also has served as first assistant sec
retary of state. He is 50 years of age.
English Officer’s High Descent.
An English officer is equafTy de
scended from King Charles I. and
from Oliver Cromwell. By the mar
riage of Lord Walter Montagu-Doug
las-Scott, the Duke of Buccleuh’s late
brother, with Anna Maria, daughter of
the late Sir Edmund Cradock Hartopp,
his son, Capt. Francis Waiter Scott,
is so descended. The Cradock Har
topps derive from Mrs. Fleetwood, a
daughter of the lord protector. Her
daughter married Sir John Hartopp,
who represented the county of Leices
ter in parliament.
Gladstone’s Powers of Memory.
Many stories are told of the tena
city of Vernon-Harcourt’s memory, but
in this power he was excelled by Glad
stone, who was always astonished at
anybody’s inability to recall the time
and place of any incident of their
lives. Once, appealing to Earl Gran
ville as to how the latter had voted
on a certain long-forgotten bill, ne
was astonished by the reply that the
matter had escaped memory. “You
have forgotten!” exclaimed Gladstone.
‘‘Why, it is only forty years ago!”
m WEEKLY
PANORAMA
i
NITROGEN FOR THE SOIL.
Discovery Bound to Have Beneficia.
Effect on. Human Life.
Vaccination against smallpox lias
saved a countless number of lives
Vaccination of the scil bids fair tc
have an even more beneficial effect
on human life by increasing the fooo
supply that ean be obtained from im
poverished soil. The process is the
result of the inventive genius of Dr.
George T. Moore of the United States
Department of Agriculture, and how
it operates is described in the Century
Magazine.
The new vaccination is not a meth
od for the prevention of a disease of
the soil, but rather for supplying the
soil with elements in which it is de
ficient. It is a process by which the
soil can be made to take a big supply
of nitrogen from the air at an ex
pense that Is almost nothing at all,
thus obviating the necessity pf using
costly fertilizers,
Some time ago German scientists
discovered that the nodules on the
roots of leguminous plants, such as
beans, peas, clover and alfalfa, were
really colonies of milions of bacteria,
whose activity consisted in taking
nitrogen from the air and accumulat
ing. In soils that do not contain such
bacteria the legumes will not grow
at all, but where the bacteria abound
the nodules accumulate very much
more nitrogen than the legumes need,
with the result that the soil is enrich
ed for a crop of a different kind, such
as corn or wheat, the next year. That
is the scientific basis of rotation of
crops, though nobody knew’ it before.
Now what Dr. Moore has done is to
devise a way to grow' these bacteria
by the billion and fix them so that they
will keep in a dried state for months.
He makes little cakes of them which
the farmers can use on their bad soil,
and the cost to the government is less
than a cent an acre. He has patented
his process and made a free gift of
the patent to the American people.
Experiments show that vaccinated
soil will produce from eight to twenty
times as heavy crops of legumes as
unvaccinated soil will produce. More
over, the crop of cotton, or corn, or
wheat the year after vaccination will
be from fifty per cent to three or four
hundred per cent larger than it would
otherwise have been.
The farmers on the worn-out land
of New England have special and im
mediate reason for thanking Dr. Moore
for the work that he has done, and
the demand for his bacteria cake is
sure to be heavy the coming year.
Ex-queen of spain dead.
Sudden Demise of the Sister of the
Present King.
The Infanta Maria De I.as Mercedes,
princess of the Asturias, sister of King
P&Mj553 QrAjTZfetfJ
Alfonso and wife of Prince Charles
of Bourbon, gave birth to a daughter
Oct 16 and died next day. The prin
cess of the Asturias was queen of
Spain till the birth of her brother, the
present king. She was born in 1880
and was married in February, 1901,
to Prince Charles of Bourbon. They
had two sons, Alfonso, born in Novem
ber, 1901, and Fernando Maria Alfonso,
born in February, 1903.
LEARNED WHO MORGAN WAS.
Knowledge Somewhat Astonishes
Ocean Liner Official.
As the Atlantic liner Cedric was
about to sail from New York the
other day the ship’s steward informed
tne purser that Mr. Morgan had given
orders to be notified five minutes be
fore the gang plank was hauled in.
“And who the deuce is Morgan.” ask
ed the purser. “Blimed if I know,”
answered the steward, hurrying away.
Just then he saw an official of the line
and learned from him who Mr. Morgan
is. With a frightened look he dasn
ed back to the purser and whispered:
“Oh, I say, Mr. Purser. I’ve just ’eard
’o his ’ere Mr. Morgan is. Blessed if
he ain’t the howner of the bloomin’
ship—Pierpont Morgan, you know.”
The purser was careful to give Mr.
Morgan the desired information.
Praises American Law Schools.
Prof. James Brice of England, au
thor of “The American Common
wealth,” has begun a series of lec
tures before the Columbia law school.
In the first of these lectures he prais
ed the American law schools, saying:
“No part of your system of education
here in the United States strikes visi
tors more forcibly than the efficient
means provided for the education of
lawyers. Your schools are much bet
ter than any in England, and that is
because the Americans realize that
there is a science of law.”
Bismarck’s Sons Died Young.
Both of Bismarck’s sons died while
still compartively young men, “Bill”
Bismarck having died in 1901. The
great chancellor’s only surviving child
is his daughter, the Countess Von
Rantzau. Prince Herbert Birmarck
was forced to give up his career in
the army when a lieutenant on ac
count of the severe wound he received
at the battle of Mars-le-Tour, Aug. 16,
1870. When he died, however, he held
the rank of major general on the in
active list.
The hurried bachelor who exchanges j
a little piece of Manila paper, covered
with cabalistic and terrifying blots
and strokes, for his shirts and collars
in a Chinese laundry, has an inherent ;
conviction that Chinese is the most
difficult language to acquire. If he
ever does give it a thought, it is more
than probable that he has satisfied
himself that, given the brief space of
1,000 years and a comfortable resi
dence on a desert island, so that his ;
attention would not be distracted, he
might learn to count up to 100 in the
language in which is enshrined the i
analeets of Confucius and other mas
terpieces of Eastern literature. To
be told that there is a way by which
/‘Chinese is made easy” is likely to
prove too much for his credulity.
While undeniably there would be a
fascination in being able to know what
Chinese
/
/
Easy
Learn
Period
those strange combinations of strokes
On a Chinese laundry ticket mean, yet
no one is likely to take up the study
of a language to gratify a satisfaction
*o unfruitful. That there is a genuine
value in a knowledge of the Chinese
language is vouched for by Dr. Wal
ter Brooks Brouner, of Columbia uni
versity, and Fung Yuet Mow, Chinese
missionary in New York City, in their
volume, just published by the Mac
millan company, entitled “Chinese
Made Easy.”
In explanation of the comparative
ease with which spoken Chinese may
be acquired, for it must be understood
that there is a difference between the
spoken and the written languages,
take, for example, the word hand. In
German we must remember whether
the word hand be of masculine, femi
nine or neuter gender; in French.
Spanish or Italian we must recall
whether the word be of masculine or
feminine gender; whereas in Chinese,
as in English, all we need burden our
memory with is the word hand, which,
in Cantonese Chinese, is sow. Once
learned, the word sow is irrevocably
fixed in our memory. The simplicity
of such a language is at once self-evi
dent when we are told that words have
neither gender nor declension; that
verbs have no conjugation (and may
be either active, transitive, neuter, or
even casual); that the language is
composed mainly of monosyllabic
words, which are really root ideas; |
and that a word may be used either
as a noun, verb, adverb or conjunc- '
tion, depending simply on the context
or as the exigencies of the surround
ing words demand.
The Chinese have never constructed
a grammar for their language as we
understand a grammar, but the lan- !
guage does adhere to certain forms in
the use of speech, which are necessary
to speak and write the language cor
rectly. The Chinese language is with
out an alphabet, but for the purposes
of grading, the number of strokes in
a sign, which is a word, to some ex- '
'N-Dl/tL AT
mf/IE MAdOF CIA55/CS
j tent fix its place in the lessons, which
! begin with “yot,” which means “one,”
and the sign for which is a single
horizontal stroke. When it is consid
ered that some English words con
tain a large number of letters, there
are few Chinese word signs with over
twenty strokes, although the word
sign “Jarn,” meaning “to praise,” con
tains twenty-six, but if it is used as
seldom by the Chinese as it is by the
English-speaking peoples it is no hard
ship to write it.
To express the seasons and years it
will be found the Chinese are poeti
cal. Next year is “bright year;” New
Year’s day is very properly, if not ele
gantly, “Begin day;” the four seasons,
“see-see,” is Four Times; last month
is “up month,” and in this word will
be found what is known as a “classi
fier.” The sounds for up month are
“say-ung ko yut;” the “ko” is a classi
fier, which is used in a manner simi
lar to our “a length of rope,” a “piece
of business.” etc., and has also its
phonetic value.
For the word “not” there are several
variations—“ung-high” equals not is;
“ung” equals not; “mo” equals not and
“but” equals not. The word “high” is
used according to the context for
either “is,” “it is” or “are.” The word
“have” is sometimes inferred in a sen
tence and not expressed, as “I not
wine cup,” meaning “I have no wine
glass;” out to express “I have wine”
or “I have” anything else, the word
“yow,” meaning “have,” is used. If
“I have not” anything the “have” is
omitted.
“I,” “me” and “my” are all repre
sented by one word, “ugaw;” to say
“nine” the possessive “kay” is added
t'i the “ugaw," and it becomes “ugaw
1 v.” The word “very” is awkwardly
e pressed by “sup-fun” or ten part, al
(’ ough there is the equivalent “jo-e.”
>' n are “male persons,” the plural is
shown by the number of men and not
by any addition excepting the classi
fier. Women are “female person.” The
tenses are represented by a sign, “He
hc.s gone away” being rendered “He
go” and sign of past tense; thus "ko-e
hoo-e he-oo (past tense signu) lar.”
The query is represented by several
different signs, “may” and “nay” be
ing the most common one3.
A birthday in Chinese is a “live
day,” or sarn yot. When the name of
a foreigner is to be expressed, it is
done so phonetically. Thus Washing
ton, whose name is more familiar to
Chinese than is generally credited, is
expressed by the sounds whar sun
dun, which is fairly close. The char
acters used to write these souii !
mean beauty prosper and the vert
dun, which means to bow the head
Washington’s birthday becomes in Ch;
uese literally "Beauty prosper to bow
the head live day,” which does not
sound very impressive^ but the Chi
nese appreciate the real rneaninp.
The word this is always express*-,
as now in Chinese. For Instance, rhi*?
morning is “now morning,” or. in Chi
nese, “kum chee-oo.” Once thorough
ly grasped the use of the Chinese v, -
is not nearly so difficult as is the verb
in other languages. The Chinese
verbs express the idea only and un
dergo no change of inflection on ac
count of tense or mood. Consequently
there is nothing like a conjugation t<
be remembered. To express the time
of action other words are added to the
verb, which by their presence give an
| indication of the exact mood or tense.
There are the verbs ending in the
sign equivalent to "gee,” which means
to dwell, to live in, to rest or to stop
Thus to sit in a carriage is “chow gee
mar chay,” meaning “sit to rest horse
car,” the in being understood.
In writing Chinese one has first to
understand there are 214 radicals, ar
ranged according to the number of
strokes required to make them, which
is, in a sense, equivalent to being al
phabetically arranged in English.
There are six styles of Chinese writ
ing. First, the fanciful “sun shu,” a
form found in bronze tablets, on por
celains, etc.; second, the “die shu,”
or the plain style. This square form
of writing wras formerly used for of
ficial purposes. Third, the “guy shu,”
or pattern style, the model of good
writing. Fourth, the “harn shu,” a
stilt "running” hand, used in business
Fifth, the “cho shu,” or free running
hand, an abbreviation of the "ham
shu,” or a kind of shorthand, which
is not always intelligible to an edu
cated Chinese, and sixth, the “soong
shu," the elegant form, the charac
ters used in printing.
Chinese characters are also divided
into the hieroglyphic, significative,
ideographic, antithetic, metaphorical
and phonetic. The names very aptly
describe these forms, all being the
surscribe of ancient forms which have
been modernized, and bear only a
slight resemblance to their originals
—Philadelphia Ledger.
Artistic Menu Stands.
Artistic menu stands are always ac
ceptable novelties, and some little Jap
anese ones greatly admired at a lunch
eon the other day could easily be
copied and made at home by clevei
fingers. These consisted of the ordi
nary plain cardboard stands surmount
ed by small Japanese tissue paper cov
ered hoops. These hoops had burst
to allow the passage of the head and
shoulders of the daintiest little Japa
nese dolls. A little thin wire had
been put inside one sleeve, so that
thus stiffened it could project. In
some cases the little people held tiny
branches of almond blosson, some
times miniature lanterns on the small
est of sticks, or else little fans were
used. All the body below the waist
was cut off to avoid a clumsy and
top-heavy effect, and the edges of the
dress were neatly gummed behind at
the back of the stand. They were
charming.
Deception in Textiles.
The amount of deception that is
practiced in the manufacture of all
kinds of textiles is far greater than
most people have any conception of.
There are very few heavyweight
woolen cloths that are free from such
substances as shoddy or cotten. They
serve there a useful purpose of giving
weight and warmth to the garment at
a comparatively low cost, without de
tracting from its outward appearance
and possible richness. Shoddy is the
article mostly depended on for heavy
weight goods, but for the lighter
weight goods cotton is the thing, be
cause it can be spun to a finer thread.
—London Laundry Record.
Excitement in East Africa.
There is no lack of excitement along
the line of the Uganda, East Africa,
railway. At Nairobi, one of the prin
cipal stations, the postmaster found
a lion on his front stoop one morning;
several natives and more than one
white officer along the road have been
eaten by Ilona; on one occasion an en
gine could hardly make its way
through miles of locusts on the track.
Not That Illustrious.
The editor of a New York magazine
was talking the other day about the
late Frank Norris, author of “The
Pit,” and a half dozen other strong
novels.
“While Norris was still at Harvard,”
he said, “he sent me a striking essay
on Beaumont and Fletcher. I accept
ed it, and a litle later Norris came
on to New York for a week.
“During that week innumerable
changes in his work occurred to him,
and three or four times a day he
hurried to my office to add a para
graph about Beaumont or to cut out
a page about Fletcher fr6m the manu
script. His enthusiasm amused me,
but the clerk who had to get hip
proofs grumbled and growled consid
erably over the trouble he was caus
ing.
“One day as I was returning from
my lunch I saw Norris hurry out of
the building. The clerk sat in my
office, and I said to him:
“‘Anybody been in, John?’
“ ‘Yes,* said the clerk, ‘that trouble
some chap, Beaumont or Fletcher,
whichever his name la.' ”
l
Work of Comedie Francaiae.
In the Figaro of last week were
published some interesting statistics
relating to the dramatic fare present
ed at the Comedie Francaise since its
opening. From 1680 to 1903 the works
of Moliere received 20.949 representa
tions. Racine came next with 6,337,
and Corneille with 4,757. The returns
for Regnard, Voltaire, Marivaux and
Beaumarchais during the same period
are, respectively, 5,282, 3,950, 2,445
and 1,196. The most popular play in
the Moliere repertory is "Le Medecin
Malgre Lui.” With regard to Racine
and Corneille the most frequently
staged works were “Phedre” and Le
Cid.”—Pall Mall «azette.
Military Chefa Compete.
A Russian prince, the late Prince OI
denberg. instituted a competition for
military chefs. Each regiment sends
two cooks, and the successful compel
itors receive money prizes, watches
and other things. At the last compe
tition. which took place at the great
military camp of Krasno Mo. there
were gathered 40,000 men of the Rus
sian army.__
i .*