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TOPICS OF THE TIMES
A CHOICE SELECTION OF INTER
ESTING ITEMS
Comments and Criticisms Baser Upon
the Happening ot the Day His
torical and News Notes
Old King Malietoa is dead and the
next thing to expect is Samoa troubles
At Newport the latest fad Is a stable
ball Of coure the fashionable spec
tators all occupy stalls
Advices from the Sudan state that
a great many of the howling dervishes
have stopped howling
Lieutenant Peary is a true expansion
st lie has the American flag with
him and has
pole
one north looking for the
One consequence of the war is that
the muse of history may close for good
the chapter treating of Spain and the
Western coutiuent
The President again showed himself
lo be a magnanimous and kind-hearted
gentleman by refusing to notice CoJ
ITays early poems
Encircled by her soldiers Hollands
queen -was enthroned And what men
wouldnt be willing to surround a pret
ty girl of IS -with their arms
If the magazines begin telling how
victories could have been won right in
vpc it partly keeps in countenance
Blancos winning them with a type
writer
The Paris Figaro says the Star-Spangled
Banner is older than any of the
present standards of Europes powers
And whats more its the greatest fls
of the age
A contemporary asserts that
matter of fact throughout the
war France was Spains alley
as a
entire
And
yet Spain evinced no inclination to run
lown her neighbor republic
Since the railway disaster at Sharon
Lhe timorous Massachusetts people
have become opposed to traveling in
the rear car Thats easily enough fix
ad Gut the rear car off the train
A protocol meant originally a leaf
lued into the front of a book The
United States however prefers to in
sert it at the end of the volume and
write there Finis to the Spanish-American
war
General Pando says General Toral
should be court martialed for surrend
ering Santiago If Pando had not been
so busily engaged in arranging for an
ulibi at that time he might now be in
a position to figure in the court martial
appendix
Two nations benefit by the fact that
Admiral Cervera and his men have
been our prisoners of war We are the
yetter for the opportunity to be mag
nanimous ami Spain must always cor
dially remember that the opportunity
was nobly improved
One thing most impressively taught
hy our short war with Spain is that
war is a serious business and the art
of -war is a difficult profession that can-
lot b take up offhand but requires
careful training and diligent prepara
ion The navy has furnished the most
conspicuous example of this truth but
the army has taught it quite as impres
sively
Extraordinary feats of bravery de
serve recognition and not an officer in
the navy will be found to complain
jver the promotion of a Dewey a
Schley or a llobson but if the com
manders and juniors of every ship that
nas had the luck to take part in battle
are to be rewarded some method of
loing so should be devised which will
uot in effect impose a fine upon their
less fortunate comrades
Side by side with bicycling equestri
anism grows iu popular favor though
he man and woman on horseback may
uot always look with admiration on
he bicycle and the wheelman may
sometimes choose to regard the horse
man as snobbish and behind the age
in crowded cities the horse is not used
nearly as much as it used to be and
there is room for hope that ir soon will
be used even less But on track and
speedway the horse holds his own and
animals of good breed and training are
always in demand
It may be taken as a gratifying sign
of a healthy social evolution that the
interest in out-of-door sports is evi
dently growing from year to year More
people ride the bicycle row boats go
-swimming or poke golf balls over the
aeld than ever before The colleges no
floubt have had much to do with this
and were it not for the interest revived
annually by such institutions as Yale
Princeton Harvard and Cornell and
the universities of the western states
football rowing and track and field
athletics would be in a sorry condition
But any one who has watched certain
tendencies of the last fifteen years
must have noted that the increased ac
tivity in athletics is by no means con
fined to the colleges Ten years time
has been the bicycle come into universal
use while football has become almost
a fad More significant than all is the
rapidity with which golf has gained
attention and popularity notwithstand
ing the obstacles which attend its ac
climatization The game has two ad
vantagesit presents sufficient diffi
culties to enlist the attention and hold
the interest of skilled players and it
n ffo ills a mild amusement for the bung
lers who can merely promenade through
it It is a pity however that it should
have divided so much attention from
which is still Bean the head of
spurts fcr developing grace agility and
endurance The interest in public ten
nis contests is still alive but the ama
teur enthusiasm in the sport which was
manifested two or three years ago
when tennis courts everywhere were
scenes of brisk activty seems to have
waned With this possible exception
the amount of time and attention given
to exercises out of doors increases
steadily The eventual result is bound
to be not only a physical improvement
but a healthier mental and moral condi
tion of the race To a certain extent
a peoples sports are an index of their
character So long as the taste for ath
letics is hearty there is little fear of
their succumbing either to slothfulnes
or morbid forms of dissipation
Things have come to such a pass in
France that if anybody says justice
he Is suspected of a desire to subvert
the government The Siecle reports an
extraordinary occurrence in connec
tion with the recent official celebration
of the Michelet centenary An ode
writteu for the occasion by M Maurice
Bouchor was objected to by the Min
ister of Public Instruction because the
poet had been imprudent enough to put
into it the word justice In one of the
stanzas he had invoked the shades of
Michelet lingo and Quinet to recall
to the minds df Frenchmen and to the
world that France is the champion of
right M Brisson saw at once that
this would never do The poet might
as well have said outright that he
thought Dreyfus illegally convicted
and what would become of society
then So he sent for M Bouchor and
labored with him for an hour in the at
tempt to get him to withdraw two of
his stanzas But the poet concluded
to withdraw the whole of his poem I
see he said that I am not made to
sing at official ceremonies And he
declared that under the circumstances
he was not sorry to have no part in a
glorification of Michelet by the existing
government of France The irony of
it was too cruel
Some of the newspapers on the con
tinent are beginning to be concerned
about the fate of Spain They should
not forget that Spain is a nation of 18
000000 people with habits customs
and prejudices of their own and that
they will continue to be a distinct com
munity in Europe The only change
which has occurred in Spain is that
she has gone out of the colony business
It took Spain four centuries to demon
strate to the world that she was utter
ly incapable of colony government She
failed to see the handwriting on the
wall that a colony must be governed
for trade and not for tribute She con
tinued to govern on the old system of
plunder and pillage of oppression and
taxation and consequently bred more
revolutions than she could quell She
has lost all of her colonies and de
servedly so But there is yet hope for
Spain The hope lies within the bor
ders of Spain itself Spain must turn
her attention to her home resources
She must develop herself internally
She is yet supreme in certain avenues
of -industry and she can make the
world turn to her for certain of her
commodities She has much to do in
the uplifting and enlightening of her
own people She has much to do in
the reduction of the proportion of il
literacy Spains future will be bright
er than her past
Park Benjamin has recently summed
up quite clearly the causes of Spains
naval defeats both at Manila and San
tiago by an analysis of the condition
and action of the two navies These
causes he assigns as folloAvs p Gun
platforms which cease to be platforms
as soon as ignited 2 Machinery which
failed to drive the ships at maximum
speed because no one on board knew
how to make it do so 3 Guns capable
of projecting 4S27 pounds of steel a
minute throwing it into the ocean and
not against the enemy 4 This com
bination of inefficiency crushed by a
weight of steel bolts hitting it at the
rate of nearly GT20 pounds per minute
Added to these causes of defeat Spain
has no organized naval engineer corps
This Mr Benjamin says is what
kept the lleet at Cape Yerde Islands
and when it sailed it did so with men
who were without experience in the
handling of the huge and delicate pro
pelling machinery What chance had
such people of getting their ships away
from the engineers who had carried the
Oregon over its voyage of 14500 miles
without a broken rod and who thes
and there sent it flying through the
water at a speed greater than that
Avhich it made on its trial trip An
other element of weakness was the
fact that the Spanish ships were con
tract vessels built by foreigners and
accepted without intelligent super
vision by the men who were to use
theni
C Reviving- Roman Customs
The queen of Italy is going to re-establish
an old Roman institution which
has fallen into disuse for over twenty
years Its object is to give a dowry
of 30 ducats to lo0 Roman maidens on
their marriage Formerly a church
broliherhood used to decide on the mer
its of the recipients but her majesty
intends now to have a committee of
ladies for the purpose Probably the
procession of the selected girls through
the streets of Rome on the first Sun
day in October will be revived The
queen will herself provide the funds
for the -charity x
Deft Smoking
Japanese jugglers are deft smokers
Several of them will sit before a cur
tain and with the tobacco smoke
which Issues from their mouths will
form a succession of readable letters
Whenever a man becomes wise he is
the first to discover his wisdom
A girl man becomes wise he is the
first to discover his wisdom
C -
IN THE BROOMCORN BELT
Crop Proves Profitable in Certain
Parts of Illinois
The busy day for the broomcorn
grower is harvest time The time ex
tends from the 1st of August until Oct
1 This is arranged by the -time of
planting which is during the months
of May and June The farmer plants
his broomcorn so that it will ripen at
different times during the harvesting
period Great judgment must be used
in cutting or harvesting it If it is cut
before ready it will not weigh well and
the fiber is not up to standard Then
if it is ripe or nearlj so it will be
colored and that will detract from the
price The ground is ployed and thor
oughly pulerized before planting
breaking the stalks and laying them
across each other so as to form a ta
ble about three feet high A man
passes along on each side of the table
and cuts off the heads or tops of the
broomcorn From four to eight inches
of the stalk is left with each head The
tool used for cutting broomcorn is a
MmiairWfUiiSsic
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passports shipmen pretending losses at
sea The following inclusion deals di
rectly with the subject of actors ill
fencers beare wardes common plaj
ers in interludes and minstrels not be
longing to any baron cf the realme or
towards any honourable personage of
greater degree which shall
wander abroad and have not licenses
of two justices of the peace of the least
whereof one bee of the quorum where
and iu what shire they shall happen to
wander The Nineteenth Century
A NEW POMPEII
Discovered by Excavators on the Site
of Ancient PriencJ
This title is perhaps an exaggeration
The I hut it is certain that if the published
cultivating is after the manner of In- reports are true the German
dian corn When ready to harvest the ogists who are excavating on the site
farmer gathers his force - o1 ancient Priene have made a
A man walks between two rows i covery of the highest interest It is
well known that rriene is in Asia Mi
nor and that the modern city of Sam
soun occupies its ancient site Several
years ago an English expedition un
earthed and studied the temple of Mi
nerva the chief sanctuary of the city
built by order of Alexander but its
ruins although interesting were
knife similar to the ordinary shoe doued and they have since been de-
knife The breaking of these tables
serves two purposes It places the
heads in position so thej may be cut
off readily and form a place to lay the
spoiled by the inhabitants of the neigh
borhood In 1S93 the Germans resumed
the exploration of the region in behalf
of the Berlin Museum at the expense
heads Four rows of heads are placed of the Prussian government and under
on each table Teams pass through
the field -between the table rows and
the corn is loaded and hauled to the
thrashing place Here it is placed on
jlong tables which extend to the seeder
iOn these tables it is straightened out
and placed on a carrier belt which car
ries it through the seeder From the
seeder it is carried to a barn or shed
prepared with shelving where it is
scattered out and left to dry from two
to four weeks When sufficiently dry it
is placed in bales of 200 to 300 pounds
each
It requires a large amount of
the direction of a young architect
helm Wilberg The work of excava
tion is rJrcady sufficiently advanced to
enable us io judge of its rare impor
tance a whole city isbeing unearthed
in almost as good preservation as Pom
peii And this is the more important
because up to the present no similar
discovery has ever been made that
gives precise indications of the general
arrangement of a Greek city of its pub
lie monuments or its individual dwell
ings The city thus exhumed is as
suredly of the period of greatest Greek
beauty the streets cross at right an-
BROOM CORN HARVESr OF ILLINOIS
3rooTT corn ready fo hanvfcSt1 v
tional farm help and coming at a time
of the year when the farm work of
other kinds is slack a great body of
men from the adjoining country flocks
to the broomcorn fields The broom
manufacturer visits the farmer and
purchasers the crop Sometimes he de
pends upon a broomcorn broker It is
sold by the farmer at so much per ton
The price varies from 50 to 100 per
ton A ton is the product of from two
to three acres In recent years a large
part is manufactured in the broom
corn belt This broomcorn belt covers
but a small part of Illinois It extends
from Neoga on the south to Tnscola on
the north and from Shelbyville on the
west to Paris on the east Broomcorn
is not the exclusive crop in this belt
for other crops are grown
ANCIENT STATUS OF ACTORS
They Were Clashed Anions Uojrnes
Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars
There is a common idea that actors
are by law considered as vagabonds
the historic basis being a contempla
tion of the statutes regarding vagran
cy These statutes crude and general
in terms as were all or most of the
early enactments having been made
and renewed between the twenty third
year of Edward III and the fifth year
of Queen Elizabeth were variously re
pealed and consolidated in 1572 the
act being the 14th Eliza both chapter 5
In this act strolling players unlicensed
are certainly classed among rogues
vagabonds and sturdie beggars who
are in the preamble of the act termed
outrageous enemies to the common
weall the penalty on conviction being
that then imraediatelie he or she shall
be adjudged to be grievouslie whipped
and burnt through the gristle of the
right eare with a hot yrou of the com
passe of an inch about a punishment
only to be abated by some responsible
householder taking him or her into
service for a full year under proper rec
ognizance A second offense became a
felony
The cause ot tne act expressing
what person and persons shall bee so
extended within this branch to be
rogues vagabonds and sturdie beg
gars includes the following Pre
tended proctors gamesters persons
faining themselves fo have knowledge
in phisnomie palmestrie or other
abused sciences quasi labourers who
will not work unlicensed jugglers ped
lars tinkers pettie chapmen counter
feetours and users of licenses and
w
I -- w iiMta t ii nn
gles and are laid out with the greatest
regularity and we can identify colon
nades theaters market places shops
and houses with their decorations and
interior arrangement South of the
temple of Minerva has been found the
agora surrounded with great colon
nades while opening on one of its cor
ners is a small square edifice somewhat
resembling a theater and constituting
perhaps the place of meeting of the
city council It is in admirable preser
vation and sixteen rows of seats can
be seen still in place Worthy of note
is a vault in one of the walls a thing
extraordinarily rare in Greek architec
ture We should add in closing that
among the structures that have been
entirely exhumed is a theater whose
scene is intact which will doubtless
solve some of the problems connected
with this special part of the Greek the
aters Literary Digest
A Fair UntlerstandiiiK
A feAv years ago a young man from
just across the Connecticut who was
tending the village academy became
sadly infected with the notion that all
the maidens were in love with him
While in this state of mind it fell to his
lot one evening to see Miss H safely to
her fathers domicile On arriving at
the door the lady invited him to enter
He did so After a few moments con
versation he arose to leave and as Miss
II was showing him to the door she
innocently enough remarked that she
would be pleased to see him again
Here was an occasion for the exercise
of Jonathans courage and moral prin
ciple Expanding himself to his tallest
height with a graceful but determined
inclination of the head he replied
I should be happy miss to call as a
friend but not as a feller
Blaines Grave
The grave of James G Blaine at Oak
Hill is visited by about thirty persons a
day and is unmarked save by a small
footstone bearing the initials J G B
It is understood among the friends of
the Blaine family that the burial at Oak
Hill is only temporary and that Mrs
Blaine intends to remove the bodies
of her husband and children to Au
gusta Me as soon as she can make sat
isfactory arrangements for their burial
there
Novels say a terrible lot about the
fragrance of the heroines hair con
sidering that hair oil has gone out oi
style
DAUGHTER OF OOuFcDbRACY
that there were very many boys who
wore married at thirteen and fourteen
Ii8s Winnie DaviH Whose Death Car- T nnP SOme at fifteen years had evpru
ricd i orrovr Throughout the South j wjves There is a youthf 111 Algerian
111 the death of Miss Yarina Anne j widow of fifteen and a divorced bus
Jefferson Davis one popularly known j iint Df the same age Girls are still
as Winnie the Southern people lost j more precocious and are sometimes
an idol and the nation a most charm 1 innn ied when only eleven years old
ing winsome ana intellectual young thouh twelve is tne more usuai n v
lady Probably no young woman in the There are 1S9 widows of fifteen and
United States was personally known to
more people than Miss Davis Certain
ly none was more generally admired
for her splendid qualities of mind and
heart Popular everywhere she was
especially beloved by the men who had
fought for that Confederacy of which
her father was the President
Miss Davisillness had extended over
a period of two months and developed
into sub aente gastritis For years she
had made it a point whenever possible
to be present at the gatherings of the
Confederate veterans and the old sol
diers always gave her their heartiest
cheers At the reunion in Atlanta last
July she and Mrs Stonewall Jackson
MISS WIXS1E DAVIS
were driving in the parade A storm
broke and the ladies were drenched
and chilled From this experience dated
Miss Davis fatal illness
Winnie Davis was the youngest of
five children of Jefferson Davis and
was born in the Confederate White
House in Richmond in the last year of
the civil war Tall and fair haired
with an oval face and gray blue eyes
she was an ideal American woman in
appearance
She had a sweet Southern voice and
a charming manner that proved the
gentleness of her disposition She was
her fathers favorite child On his
deathbed he said she had given him
only happiness her mother had often
called her the best and dearest of
daughters Her devotion to her father
in his last years was not more fond
than her devotion to her mother after
her fathers death Her mother leaned
upon her she was her mothers prop
As an author Miss Davis wrote sev
eral novels good wholesome and en
tertaining and from the sale of these
she enjoyed a handsome income
Always surrounded by admirers she
never married A few years ago her
engagement was announced but it is
said she could not bring herself to give
up her beloved fathers name
Miss Davis has for years been called
the Daughter of the Confederacy This
affectionate title was conferred in the
following manner
In 1SSG Jefferson Davis was making
a tour of the Southern States Every
where he was greeted by cheering
thousands YThen West Point Ga
was reached Mr Davis was so ill that
he could not leave his berth General
Gordon went upon the rear platform of
the train and explained to the 000 as
sembled people that Mr Davis could
not appgarTurning he found Miss
Yvinnie Davis at his elbow Throwing
his arms about her Gen Gordon cried
out Countrymen your late President
cannot come out to see you but here is
his daughter our daughter the daugh
ter of the Confederacy The multi
tude went wild with enthusiasm and
since that time Miss Davis has always
been referred to in the South with the
utmost affection as the daughter of the
Confederacy
A FAST LOCOMOTIVE
Runs Kijrhts two 3Iilc3 an Hour on
Small Fuel Consumption
Three hours from New York to
Washington is the record which the
Baltimore and Ohio expects soon to es
tablish by the use of a newly invented
locomotive This engine has been
tested on the Erie road between Port
Jervis and Jersey City a distance of
eighty eight miles which it covered in
an hour and twelve minutes including
seven minutes for stops It weighs
Asiifflij
Tt inui rr rj lli uatsttni itir
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TIIK 21AUB KXCIVE
iixty two tons has eight sixty-two-inch
drivers and consumes less fuel
and draws more cars than any other
locomotive on the track By an ar
rangement of the boiler Hues what has
hitherto been waste product of com
bustion is used as fuel The smoke
stack is merely an outlet for exhaust
steam for it never emits smoke or
sparks The record between Port Jer
vis and lersey Cityis vouched for by
the engineer who made the trip The
Baltimore and Ohio is to be equipped
with these engines as fast as they can
be built
Early Ularriages
The farther south one goes the ear
lier one finds marriages take place A
census was lately taken in Algeria and
It was found that the youngest Arab
married man was twelve years old and
117G divorces of the same age
HE LIVES WITH HIS SNAKES
A Gatskill Mountaineer Who Prefers
Kcptiles to Wife and Child
Up in the Catskills lives one of those
men who have an affinity for snakes
He prefers the companionship of any
kind of reptile to that of the most
genial nfan or fascinating woinaiu
Wherever he goes he carries with him
several of these pets and on several
occasions has sent women into hyster
ics and made men nervous and angry
by taking from his pocket a shining
black snake or poisonous copperhead
The Benedicts Lament
Backward turn backward O Time in-
your flight
Make me a bach again just for to night
Fix it so that I may come home once more
Without catching fits as I enter the door
Take from my neck the sad yoke thatll
wear
Oh let me come in without losing my
hair
The boys have invited me down to the
club
But Time wont turn backward and
is the rub
Chicago Xews
and fondling it tenderly
In a moment of abstraction from hisj
devotion to snakes he asked a woman
to marry him and for some iucompre
hensible reason she consented It was
not long however until she began tc
make objection to the numerous rep
tiles which the snake lover insisted om
bringing into the house
Trouble began and continued The
sjmpathy of the neighbors was with
the wife They advised her to leave a
man who could be little better than a
snake himself to subject her to such
indignities
She bore it until there was a baby in
the family Then the fond father took
to wheeling the baby out in its peram
bulator and bringing it back surround
ed by snakes This was too much fo2
the mother and she left the snake coh
lector for good and all
Xo one wanted to rent him a houset
so he bought a little place of his owe
and lives alone with his snakes Th6
villagers give the house a Avide berth
and the summer visitors hasten th
other way when they see him coming
down the street with a snake coiled
about his neck
Oh yes is a beautiful place
said a girl who had just returned home
from a two weeks visit there but 1
wouldnt go again as long as thai
snake man lives there He says th
horrid things are harmless as if thai
made any difference The only com
pensation is that he has collected sc
manj of the miserable things thai
there are fewer about the cotmtrj
than there would be otherwise Xe
York Press
NEW CUBAN SHIELD
Coat of Arras Adopted By the Insur
gent Government of the Island
Cubas new coat of arms is an in
foresting design symbolizing all thaj
is important in the liberated country
There is a cap of liberty with the
single white star of Cuba surmounting
a bundle of fasces meaning authority
and power before which rests a shield
on one side of which is a wreath of oak
leaves on the other a wreath of laurel
The sunrise of a new prosperity is ris
ing over the sea lighting up a bay into
which commerce will soon stream The
key symbolizes Cuba itself which has
been called the key of the West In
dies The right half of the shield pic
tures a tropical palm the fertile val
leys and sunny hills of the island indi f
i
mm AmmW
Cubas coat of aums
eating agriculture and the red and
white bars on the left may possibly be
intended as a compliment to the United
States for the part this countrj played
in the liberation of the island Alto
gether it is a pretty design though
probably too complex
Largest Hotel in the Worlrt
The Sultan is said to have nearly com
pleted the largest hotel in the world at
Mecca This establishment is to lodger
0000 pilgrims at once with presum j
ably their camels and other beasts of
burden and promises to be one of thti
most picturesque places to stay ni in
the world although of course infideP
dogs are not allowed to approach it
Great Britains Expends
The expenses of Great Britain arer
now about 300000000 yearly or nonr
ly 1000 per minute but every tide of
the cloek represents an inflow of a little
over 10 in the Treasury thus leaving
an annual surplus of about 20000COO
Irelawtis Antiquaries
This year the Boyal Society of AntiT
quaries of Ireland celebrates its fiftieth
anniversary It was founded in Kill
kenny and now numbers on its rolj
1400 fellows and members in every
part of the globe
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