Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, February 13, 1889, Image 1
lewis m. grist, proprietor. f*jVn jiulrpeiuhu .ifamili; Mm-spaprr: fJfor the fjmmotimof the political, skicial. Inrittiltiirat and (i'oinmiMcial jntordfi of tlif ?ouih. " a
VOL. 35. ? YORIvVILLE, S. O., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1889. JSTO. 7. i
JONATHAN AND
BY MAX O'RELL ,
Translated by Mme. Paul Blouet. Cop
We Publish the Following Extri
rangement through the A
Paul Blouet (Max O'Rell) is a remarkably
ents mostly to satirizing the Anglo-Saxon ra(
of "John Bull and His Island," "John
' duction, the material for it being gathered
CHAPTER I.
The population of America is sixty millions
?mostly colonels.
If the earth is small t America is large, and
the Americans are immense!
Yes, sixty millions!?all alive and kick'ngl
Ffcom east to west, America stretches over
a breadth of more than 8,000 miles. Here
it is well to put some readers on their guard,
Jft case an American should one day put to
^ them ono of bis favorite questions: "Where
is the center of America P I myself imagined
that, starting from New York and pushing
westward, one would reach the extremity of
America on arriving at San Francisco. Not
so. and here Jonathan has you. He knows
you are going to answer wrongly, and if you
want to please him, you must let yourself be
caught in this little trap, because it will give
him such satisfaction to put you right. At
8&n Francisco, it appears you are not quite
half way, and the center of America is really
in the Pacific ocean. Jonathan more than
doubled the width of his continent in 1867,
when for the stun of $7,000,000 he purchased
Alaska of the Russians.
In America, everything is on an immense
scale: the just pride of the citizens of the
Young Republic is fed by tho grandeur of its
rivers, mountains, deserts, cataracts, its suspension
bridges, its huge cities, etc.
Jonathan passes his life in admiration of
all that is American. He cannot get over it
1 have been through part of the country,
and 1 cannot get over it either. 1 am out of
breath, turned topsy-turvy. It is pure conjuring,
it is Robert Houdin over again?
?occasionally perhaps Robert Macaire too?
but let us not anticipate. Give me time to
recover my breath, and set my ideas in order.
These Americans are reeking with unheardof-ness,
I can tell you that to begin with.
My ideas are all jostling in my poor old
European brain. There is no longer anything
impossible, and the fairy tales are
child's play compared to what one may see
every day. Everything is prodigious, done
by steam, by electricity: it is dazzling, and
I no longer wonder that the Americans only
use their adjectives in the superlative.
As an illustration of what 1 advance, here
is a letter that 1 received from an American,
in the mouth of May, 1S87, and which finally
decided me to go and see America. It is
dated from Boston:
"Dear Sir?I was on the point of taking
the boat at 12 today, to go and have a talk
with you about an idea which occurred to me
yesterday; bnt as I have already been across
three times, and in a month or six weeks
shall have to set out for St. fetersourg ana
Japan, I am desirous, if possible, of arranging
the matter I have at heart by correspondence."
*
"Good heaven I" I exclaimed, "this is a
man 1 must make the acquaintance of; I
must go and see Jonathan at home one of
these days."
And as soon as circumstances allowed, I
packed my trunks, took a cabin on board one
of the brave "White Star" liners, and set out
When a man of average intelligence returns
home after, having made a voyage to a
foreign land, he cannot help having formed
a certain number of impressions, and he has
a right to communicate them to his friends.
They are hut impressions, notes taken by the
wayside, and. If there is an error committed
by any one, it is by the critic or the reader,
when either of these looks for a perfect picture
of the manners and institutions of the
people the author has visited, instead of
simple impressions do voyage. Certainly, if
there Is a country in the world that it would
be impossible to judge in six months, that
country is America, and the author who, in
such a little space of time, allowed himself to
fall into the error of sitting in judgment
upon her would write himself down an ass.
To form a really exact idea of America one
would need to live twenty years in the country,
nay, to be an. American, for 1 may add
that, in my opinion, the best books that exist
upon the different countries of the world
Lave been written by natives of those countries.
Never has an author written of the
English like Thackeray; never have the
.Scotch been painted with such fidelity as by
Ramsay; and to describe Tartarin it needed
HE not only a Frenchman but a Provencal, almost
a Tarasconnais.
It must bo allowed that Jonathan has good
I' KJ reason to mistrust his critics. Most books on
A mprira have been written by Englishmen.
'l Now the English oro, of all people, those
5 who can the least easily get rid of their prejudices
in speaking of America. They are
obliged to admit that the Americans have
? made their way pretty well since they have
f been their own masters; but John Bull has
always a rankling remembrance, when he
looks at America, of the day that the Ameri'I
rang sent him about his business, and his look
I 6oems to say to Jonathan: "Yes, yes, yoi
I have not done at all badly?for you, but jusl
m think what the country would have been bj
i j. this time if it had remained in my hands."
Tbo Englishman, on his side, has no antip
athy whatever to the Americans. For thai
matter the Englishman has no antipathy foi
I any one. He despises, but he does not hate
a fact which is irritating to the last degre<
B- f to the objects of his attention. When a mai
B . feels that ho lias some worth, he likes to tx
B & loved or hated, to be treated with indiffer
B |v ence is galling. John Bull looks on the Ameri
B | can as a parvenu, and smiles with incredulity
Hi* - 9m when you say that American society is uo
B if only brilliant and witty, but quite as polishes
B f as the best Eurojiean society.
t? It is this haughty disdain which exasperate
B i A Americans.
^Bkjr^B?Jonatffkn has forgotten' that the Englisl
B weroonce his oppressors; he forgives then
m(/\ for the war of 1S12; without forgetting it
B^if ? ho forgives them for having, during the civi
BJ I war, sided with the slave owners; but ho can
I not forgive on Englishman for coming to hi
B I dinner table is a tweed suit.
* CHAPTER IIL
M A nation, scarcely more than a hundra
Bp years old, and composed of many widely dif
Bi ferent elements, cannot, in the nature o
I s things, possess very marked characteristii
BrV traits.
B^ Tliere are Americans in plenty, but thi
||P American does not yet exist.
Bh The inhabitant of the northeast states, th
f Yankee, differs as much from the western
man and the southerner as the Englishma]
differs from the German or the Spaniard.
For example, call a Yankee "a cad," an*
he will get out of the room, remarking
. "You say so, sir, but that proves nothing.
; Call a Pennsylvania man "a cad" and he wi]
. get out of temper and knock you down. Ca]
1 a real westerner "a cad" and he will get ou
his revolver and shoot you dead on the spol
Should a minister indulge in unorthodo
theories in the pulpit, the eastern mnn wi
content himself with shaking his head, an
going to another church to perform his d?
votions the Sunday after. The Pennsylvania
will open a violent polemic in the newspaper
I of the locality. The Kansas man will wai
I for the minister at the church door and giv
him a sound thrashing.
On board the steamer we had five Amer
cans who passed the eight days of the voyag
in playing poker. The smoking room ran
from morning to night with the oaths the
they uttered every time they laid a card o
the table. They were so fluent with thei
that they hardly used the same twice in a
hoar. Their stock seemed inexhaustible. 0
Sunday after breakfast a young lady st
down to the piano, and began playing hymn
What happened then? Our five poker pla;
ers gathered round the lady and, for tw
hours, sang psalms and holy hymns to tl
HIS CONTINENT.
AJSTD. JACK ALLYN.
lyrighted by Cassell & Co., New York,
icts from this Book by Special Armerican
Press Association.
r clever Frenchman, who has devoted his talHe
has become widely known as the author
Bull, Jr.,',' Etc. This book is his latest produring
his recent visit to America
edification of the other occupants of the
salooa ,*
I was ddmfounded.
In France we have men who swear, and
men who sing hymns. The Anglo-Saxon race
alone ran - furnish men who do both with
equal gusto.
In what other country than America could
such an anecdote as tue following be toldf It
is the most typically American anecdote I
beard in the United States. It came from
Mr. Chauncey Depew, it is said. Snt, for
that matter, when a good story goes the
rotmd of the states, it is always put down to
Mr. Depew, Mark Twain, or the late Artemus
Ward.
A new minister had been appointed in a
little Kentucky town. No sooner had he
taken possession of his cure than he set abo#ut
ornamenting the church with stained glass
windows of gorgeous huea This proceeding
aroused the suspicions of several parishioners,
who imagined that their new pastor was inclined
to lead them to Roma A meeting
was palled, and it was decided to send a deputation
to the minister to ask him to explain
his conduct, and beg him to have the offending
windows removed.
The head of the deputation was an old man
of Presbyterian proclivities, whose austerity
was well kuown in the town. He opened fire
by addressing the reverend gentleman thus:
"We have waited upon you, sir, to beg that
you will remove those painted windows from
our church as soon as possible We are simple
folks, God's own light is good enough for
us, and we don't want to have it shut out by
all those images"
The worthy man had prepared a fine har-.
angue, and was going to give the minister
the benefit of it all; but the latter, losing
patience, thus interrupted him:
"Excuse me, you seem to be taking high
ground; who tire you, may I askf
"Who am I?" repeated the good old spokesman.
"I'm a . meek and humble follower of
Jesus, that's what I am, and, ? d n you,
who are you?"
Without traveling very far, without even
quitting the eastern coast of America, you
will see a complete difference in the spirit of
towns that are almost neighbors.
In New York, for instance?lam not speaking
now of the literary society, of which I
shall speak later?in New York, it is your
money that will open all doors to you; in
Boston, it is your learning; in Philadelphia
and Virginia, it is your genealogy. Therefore,
if you wish to be a success, parade your
dollars in Now York, your talents in Boston,
and your ancestors in Philadelphia and Richmond.
Scarcely has a foreigner set foot in the
United States before they ask him what he
thinks of the country. Nine persons out of
every ten you speak to put these three questions
tp you:
(1) "Is this your first visit to America?"
(2) "How long have you been over?"
(3) "How do you like our country?"
There are even some who push curiosity
further, and do not wait until you have arrived
to ask for your opinion on America
I had only just embarked'on board, the' _
handed me a letter from Now York. I
opened it and read:
"Dear Sir?Could you, during your voyage,
write mo an article on the United States!
I should bo happy to have your preconceived
notions of America and the Americans, so as
to publish them in my journal s soon as you
i no streets, m paveu uuuuui,y, umuau^cioiis
in winter. Coachmen do not check their
horses for foot passengers, but neither
do they try to run over them. They strike
the middle course between the London coachman,
who avoids them, and the Parisian one,
who aims at them.
The populous quarters, such as tho Chinese
quarter, tho Italian quarter, tho Jewish
quarter, with their tenement houses, thoso
barracks of tho poor which I visited ono day
in company with a sanitary engineer, remind
one of come of Dante's descriptions: it is a
descent, or rather an ascent, into helL I sparo
the reader the impressions which that day
left upon me. Horrible I A populace composed
of the offscourings of all nations, tho
dirtiest, roughest one can imagine.
Hard by this frightful squalor, Fifth avenue,
with its palaces full of tho riches of tho earth.
It is the eternal story of largo citiea
As in London, hundreds of churches and
taverns (called beer saloons), it i3 tho saino
ignoble Anglo-Saxon mixture of Diblo and
beer, of spiritual and spirituous.
Now York is probably the most cosmopolitan
city in tho world. To give an idea of it,
I may tell you that there aro newspapers
published there in English, French, German,
Russian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch,
Hungarian, Chinese and Hebrew.
I received ono day a circular of a meeting
of the "Knights of Labor." It was printed
in six different languages.
Nothing is more diverting than to hear tho
dwellers of each great American town criticise
tho dwellers in tho others. All these
societies, each almost in its infancy as yet,
aro jealous ono of another. At Boston, for
instance, you will bo told that the Chicago
peoplo aro all pig stickers and pork packers.
In Chicago, you will hear that Boston is composed
of nothing but prigs and "precieuses
ridicules."
Tho English spoken in Boston is purer than
any to bo heard elsewhere in tho north. Tho
voices aro less harsh and nasal, tho language
ceases to bo "vurry, vurry Amurracan." If
you think yourself iu England us you walk
arrive."
An Englishman or a Frenchman will never
ask you what you think of Englmd or Franca
The Frenchman does not doubt ihat his country
is beyond competition. If le enter into
the subject at all, it is to cong-atulate thd
stranger upon coming to visit it.
The Englishman is perfectly persuaded
that his England is the first cointry in tho
world and that everybody admit it, and the
Idea of asking an outsider for hs opinion of
it would never enter his head. He would
think it so ridiculous, so amushg, so grotesque,
that any one should tell hm England
was not at the head of all natias, that he
would not tako the trouble to rsent it Ho
would pity the person, and tho natter would
go no further.
CHAPTER IV.
Tho American men are genrally thin.
Their faces glow with intellgence and
energy, and in this mainly coisists their
handsomeness. Tho features are bony, the
forehead straight, the nose sharp and often
pinched looking in its thinness. A times one
seems to recognize in the faces somthing of
, tho Indian type, the temples inentcd, the
cheek bones prominent, the eyes aiall, keen
i and deep sot
i As for tho women, I do not hesitto to say
i that in the cast, in New York tpecially,
i they might perfectly well be tken for
, French women. It is tho same type, he same
. gait, tho same vivacity, the same ptulanco,
: tho same amplitude of proportions,
i The beauty of tho American woien, like
t that of tho men, is due much more tahe anir
mation of the face than to form or Coring.
The average of good lx?ks is veryjgh, in.
deed. I do not remember to have >en one
5 hopelessly plain woman during ny six
months' ramble through the states.
American women generally enjy that
9 second youth which nature bestows ilso on
i numbers of French women. At 0 they
5 bloom out into a more majestic beau/. The
. eyes retain their fire and luster, the tin does
. not wrinkle, the bands, neck and .-ms rer
main firm and white. It is trutthat in
t America hair turns gray early, hi, so far
1 from detracting from the woman's Qirms, it
gives her an air of distinction, andis often
s positively an attraction.
The New Yorkers and Bostonif "p"1] bav^ _
3 it to be that Chicago women havtuormous *
3 feet and hands. I was willing to Sieve this
,t up to the day I went to Chicago I found
1 the Chicago women, and those o the west
. generally, pretty, with more coloraan their
eastern sisters, only, as a rule, quitdight, not
to say thin.
That which is lacking in tho prey American
faces o? the east is color ancfreshness.
The complexion is pale, and it ifnly their
* plumpness which comes to their scue after
80 and prevents them from loohg faded.
p
Those who remain thin generally f;o quickly;
" the complexion becomes the colc of whity
brown paper, and wrinkles freely
9 If American women went in I- more out
door exercise; if they let the our air peno0
trate constantly into their rans; if they
3 gave up living in hothouses, thewould have
3 some color, and their beauty cd perhaps
fear no competition in Europe.
CHAPTER V.
" Jonathan admires all that .tters, even
11 that which is not gold. In huyes the suc11
cess of a thing answers for itquality, and
t the charlatanism that succeeds: superior to
i, the merit that vegetates. Thaollar is not
x only the unit of the monetary-stem; it is
11 also the unit of the metrical syjm.
d I was chatting one day witkn American
y about the famous Col Robert gersolL
n "He is your greatest oratol am told," I
s said.
it "Yes," he replied, "Ingersi can All tho
e Metropolitan opera house an;ay, and have
five thousand dollars in tho hto."
i- CXrtainly that is a curiovway to speak
;e of a great orator, a great wtr and a great i
g thinker. j
it I need not say that I am w speaking of
n the average American, not t litterateur or
n the man of good society,
n It would bo quite possibler an actress to
n attract large audiences olihrough a tour
it from New York to San Incisco, not bos.
cause of incontestable calerbut because she
7- traveled in a magnificent dace car of her
-o own. i
le I saw, In an American per, tho appear
ance of Miss Minnio Palmer spoken of in the
following terms:
"Minnie Palmer will wear all her diamonds
In the third act"
The booking office was besieged all day,
and, in the evening, money was refused. An
amusing detail was the arrival of a good
fourth of the audience at 10 o'clock, to see
the diamonds in the third act
CHAPTER VX
Man has been perpetuated to expiate the
transgression of his first parent by hard labor.
Jonathan is a proof of it He labors, he toils,
and the sweat of his brow crystallizes upon the
arms and nock of his beloved womankind in
the form of diamonds.
To the American woman the diamond is
not an object of luxury, it is an object of
prime necessity An English old maid would
do without her tea before on American
woman would go without diamonds.
If good style consists in not doing what the
vulgar do, good style in America ought to
consist for one thine in wearing no diamonds
?unless democracy should demand this sign
of equality.
When you see diamonds in the ears of shop
girls and factory gir^ they are sham gems
bought with welhearn&i-aioney, or real ones
bought with badly earned money.
Love of woman, innate in the American, is
not enough in itself to explain the luxury
that man lavishes on her in the' United
States. America is not the only country
where man is devoted to woman and ready to
satisfy all her caprices. The Frenchman is
as keenly alive to her influence as the American,
if not more.
The luxury of the American women must
be explained in another way.
Money is easily earned in the United States,
and is freely spent Business savors more of
gambling than of commerce in the proper
senso of the word.
Jonathan, then, is in a position much like
that of a man whom 1 saw give a hundred
franc note to a beggar one day in the streets
of Monte Carlo. "If 1 win at trente-et-quarante,"
said be to some one who asked him
how he could do such a foolish thing, "what
are a hundred francs to met I can afford to
be generous to a poor fellow creature out of
it; if 1 lose, it is so much that the croupiers
will not get" When Jonathan covers his
wife with diamonds, he says to himself, "If I
win, 1 can indulge my wife without inconveniencing
myself; if I lose, it is so much
saved from the frav."
This is not all.
If the American thirsts after money, it is
not for the love of money, as a rule, but
for the love of that which money can buy.
In other words, -avarico is a vice almost unknown
in America. Jonathan does not
amass gold for the pleasure of adding pile to
pile and counting it He pursues wealth to
improve his position in life and to surround
those dependent upon him with advantages
and luxuries. He spends his money as gayly
as ho pockets it, especially when it is a question
of gratifying his wife or daughters, who
are the objects of his most assiduous atten
tioiL Ho is the first to admit that their love
for diamonds is as absurd as it is costly, but
he is good humored, and says: "Since they
like them, way should they not have them?"
CHAPTER VIL
The large cities do not constitute the real
America. To gain a correct idea of the country
one must go and see those hundreds?1
bad almost said those thousands?of flourishing
little towns which spring up day by day
on that immense continent
It is no use looking in Now York for monuments
in the sense which we attach to the
word in Europe. There are massive buildtogs,
a few handsome churches, but nothing
which arrests your gaze. The houses in the
best part of the city are built of brown stone
^Branny are of red brick, with green shutters
on the outside.
The streets are horribly ill paved. From
my windows, which looked 011 Madison square,
the carriages appear to riso and fall as if on a
troubled sea. Drunkards have had to drop
their habits; they could not reach home from
the beer saloons.
Three fine squares alone break the monotony
of all these parallelograms of streets:
Washington square. Union squaro and Madison
square.
That which strikes the visitor to New York
is not the city itself, but the feverish activity
which reigns there.
Overhead is a network of telegraph and
telephone wires, on the ground a network of
tram car rails. It is estimated that there
are more than 12,000 miles of telegraphio
wires suspended over the heads of the passers
by; about enough to go half round the world.
The whistles of the boats that ply between
New York and Brooklyn on the East river,
and between New York and Jersey City on
the Hudson, keep up, day and night (tntil 1
in the morning), a noise which is like the roar
of wild beasts. It is the cry of Matter under
the yoke of Man. You fancy you are living
in a menagerie.
In almost every street tram cars pass every
few minutes. It is an incessant procession.
In Broadway alone there are more than three
hundred. The cars, as they are always called
in America, are magical, like everything
American. Built to carry twenty-four persons
inside (there are no seats on the top),
they aro made to hold sixty and more. In
fact, no matter how full they are, there is
always room for ono mora The conductor
UOVUI I'dUdCS IAJ 1UU JUU UU UUCUU. XWU
hong on tho rail besido the driver or conductor,
if it is not possible to squeeze yourselI
inside and hold on to tho leather straps
provided for the purpose; you gasp for
breath; it is all you can do to get at your
pocket to extract the five cents which you
owe to the car company; but the conductor
cries,in his imperturbable nasal drawl: "Move
forward, make room."
In Third avenue and Sixth avenue, you find
the overhead railway called the "Elevated."
It is supported on iron pillars, and the trains
run along on the level with the upper windows
of tho houses. This company carries
every day tho fabulous number of 500,000 passengers.
All tho existing means of transit are acknowledged
to bo insufficieet, and an underground
railway is talked of. There will soon
bo travelers underground, on tho ground, and
in the air. Poor Hercules, where are you
"7<"ni bad reckoned
jSSEou^ourxanlme.
along the streets, the illusion becomes com!
ploto when you hear tho well bred people
speak.
All tho anecdotes told in America on tho
subject of Boston are satires upon the presumptuous
character of the Bostonian, who
considers Bostou the center of the universe.
Hero is one out of tho many hundreds I
have heard.
A Boston man has lost his wife. As soon
as telephonic communication is established
between that city and Paradise, he rings and
cries:
"Hello I"
"Hello!" from the other encL
I "Is that you, Artemisia?"
"Yes, dear."
"Well, my lovo, and how do you like it up
there P'
"Oh, it is very nice, of course?but it isnt
Boston."
Washington is the sole American city which
has monuments that can strike the European
with admiration for their beauty. The Capitol,
the government buildings, tho museums,
built in the midst of handsome gardens, all
arrest tho eye of the visitor. 9
The Capitol, 7??1 feet long, built of white
marble, with a superb dome and majestic !
flights of steps, is one or the grandest, most
imposing looking edifices in the world. The
souvenirs attached to it and the treasures 1
which it contains render it dear to the Ameri- 1
cans; it is a monument which recalls to their '
minds the glories of the past, and keeps alight 1
the flume of patriotism. I
A general, who served through the great 1
civil war, told mo he had seen strong men,
soldiers brought up in remote states, sit down
and weep with strong emotion at seeing the
Capitol for tho first tima * '
W ashington is wholly given over to politics.
When congress is not sitting, it is dead;
when congress is sitting, it i3 delirious.
Little or no commerce Is dona
Philadelphia, formerly the capital of the
United States, is a city of eight or nine hundred
thousand inhabitants, and is built, like
New York, in parallelograms. Its town hall
is, next to the Capitol at Washington, the
finest edifice in America. I do cot know j
anything to compare to its splendid park, '
unless it be the Bois do Boulogne in Paris.
The alleys of this park, if put together, would
cover about sixty miles in length. Seen after
New York or the busy western cities, Philadelphia
strikes one as slow, even monotonous j
?except on the Clover club annual banquet .
evening.
This Quaker city of quiet streets and sober
people is, however, full of all kinds of manufactories.
I
On the shores of Lake Michigan there stood )
a town, built of wood, and peopled by some
hundred thousand inhabitants. This was j
called Chicago.
Oa the evening of Oct. 8, 1871, a cow that .
an old woman was milking in a barn kicked
over a lamp and set fire to the structure. The ,
flames spread, dbd on the morrow of that terrible
night the whole city was level with the j
ground. The Chicago people of today show,
as a curiosity to the visitor, the only wooden j
house which escaped the flames. (
At the present time this city, the living and
gigantic emblem of the phoenix, stands re- j
built in hewn stone, and holding 800,000 in- |
habitants. <
Such is America. ,
In less than twenty years Omaha, Denver, (
Kansas City, Minneapolis will be so many ,
Cbicagos. Cincinnati, St Louis, Louisville j
will rival her in five. ,
Chicago is, in my eyes, the very typo of the ,
American city, the most striking example of (
what Jonathan calls "go-aheadism." ]
The streets are twice as wide as the Parisian j
boulevards; the houses of business are eight,
ten and twelve stories high. Michigan avenue
is seven miles long; the numbers of the
house? run up to 8,000 and something. The
statues, including a splendid quo of Abraham 1
Lincoln, public buildings Imposing in their
massiveness, fine theatres and churches, luxurious
clubs, hotels inside which four good
sized Parisian ones could dance a quadrille,
etc., eta ?
Michigan avenue and Prairie ayenuo are
extremely handsome. Picture to yourself the
avenue of the Bois do Boulogne, prolonged
for seven miles in a straight lino, and imagine j
the effect, the beautiful vista, when this is lit ,
up at night, or when the troes, with which ]
both Iheso grand roads ore planted, are in all (
their fresh spring beauty.
In these avenues, American eccentricity \
has been allowed free play. The houses are \
built in all imaginable styles of architecture: i
some of them are Florentine, some English,
others Moorish, others a mixture of all three; \
others again look like Greek temples, whilst |
here and there you come across what looks ^
like a little Gothic church, and close along- j
side media: val castles in miniature, or imita- j
tion mosques; some have the look of villas in
the Paris suburbs, some have been modeled i
upon Swiss chalets, others upon the residence j
of some pasha on the borders of the Bos- i
phorus. There are styles for all tastea
The American may be eccentric, or what (
you will, but he is never monotonous. (
Enter one of these houses, and you will see ^
handsome furniture, not only rich, but in )
good taste. j
I was not astonished to find Chicago society i
genial, polished and well read. Riches beget j
tho taste for literature and arts; perhaps one t
day it will begot tho taste for simplicity. f
You find here still more warmth and much 1
less constraint than in the east. You feel {
tnai you nave quit too returns 01 now rmgland
Puritanism. No frigidity hero; people
give free play to their sentiments. If I had
to name the most sympathetic of my American
audiences, tho warmest and promptest to
seize tho significance of a look or gesture, I
should name tho one which I had tho honor
of addressing in Chicago.
At 7 in tho morning every man is astir and
at work, whether ho bo millionaire or poor
clerk. Only the idle are outside the pale of respectability
in Chicago.
I do not think it is possible for a European
to imagine the activity which reigns in
Chicago without seeing it
"You will soon be inventing," I said to a
resident, "a machine that will take a live
rabbit at ono end and turn out a chimney pot
hat at the other."
"We have done something very like it
already," ho replied.
And next*morning ho took mo to see the
famous pig killing and pork packing premises
of Philip Armour & Co.
Picture to yourself a series of rooms connecting.
In tho first, 5,000 pigs a day are
killed; in tho second, they are scraped as
they come out of a caldron of boiling water;
in tho third, the heads are cut off; and so on,
and so on. Tho process is somewhat sickening,
and I will not enter into any more details. At
the end of tho establishment the poor pigs are
presented to you under the forms of bacon,
sausage, gelatine, etc. Tho various processes
take place with all tho rapidity of conjuring.
CHAPTER VTIL
American houses are furnished very luxuriously,
and for the most part with exquisite
tasto. Ilero you see tho influenco of woman
in tho smallest details of life; indeed, at
every step you tako, you seo that woman has
passed that way.
Tho luxury displayed at receptions, dinners
and dances surpasses European imagination.
At a ball given in New York in the month
of February, 1888, the walls wero covered
with roses, which did not cost less than
810,000. When one considers that tho supper,
and everything else, was on tho same scaio, it
becomes doubtful whether such luxury is to
bo admired. I was present ono evening at a
dinner given in the largo dining hall at
Delmonico's restaurant, in Now York. We
wero eighty-seven guests at an immense
round tublo. Tho center of tho board was
covered with a gigantic star of flowers:
roses, arum lilies, and heliotrope. At that
season, lilies were worth a dollar each, and r
all through the winter tho firico of roses was v
from a quarter to two dollars apiece, accord-, s
ing to kind. Tho Americans at this feast
estimated tho star of flowers at six or seven
thousand dollars.
At a dinner party given recently at Del- v
monico's, I heard that each menu had a chain f
attached, consisting of pearls and diamonds,
and valued at SI,000.
In houses, in clubs, in offices one cannot J
help admiring tho ingenious forethought, tho J
tho wonderful caro with which tho smallest
r
wants and the slightest conveniences of life
J
lave been studied, it seems as if there were
lothing left to desire.
It is impossible, however, in speaking of
American interiors, to pass over in silence a
mrtain eyesore, which meets your sight at
svery turn.
The most Indispensable, it appears, the
nost conspicuous at any rate, piece of furniture
In America is the spittoon. All rooms
ire provided with this object of prime necessity;
you find one beside your seat in the
trains, under your table in the restaurants;
mpossible to escape tho sight of the ugly
utensil In the hotel corridors there is a spittoon
standing scntinol outside every door In
public buildings the floors are dotted with
them, and they form the 4ine all up the
The Americans, used to these targets from
the tender est age, are marvelously adroit at
the use of them; they never miss their aim. .
['saw some really striking feats of marksmanship;
but perhaps the best of all at the Capitol,
in Washington.
The supreme court of judicature was sitting.
As I entered an advocate was launching
thunders of eloquence. Ail at once he
stopped, looked at a spittc tn which stood two
partis off, aimed at it, and Kerrron?craaahk
?ptu! right in ^the 'buH'sjMM|^n on he t
went with his harangrfcT'Tlooke^o Sfe0~fKlTT
jeven judges and the public applaud and cry
bravo I Not a murmur, the incident passed
completely unnoticed. Probably there was
sot a man in the hall who could not say to
himself: "There's nothing in that, I could do
is much."
CHAPTER IX.
A word about American aristocracy to bofin
with.
What, American aristocracy!
Yes, certainly.
I assure you that there exists in America
social sanctuaries into which it is more difficult
to penetrate than into the most exclusive
mansions of the Faubourg Saint-Germain or
jf Mayfair and Belgravia.
There are in Philadelphia; in Beacon street,.
Boston; in Washington square (north side),
New York; in Virginia; in Canal street (right
ride), New Orleans, Americans who look upon
common mortals with much more pity and
contempt than the Montmorencys of France
cr the Howards of England.
Th? AmprirMTiiL not having anv kinc to
jive them titles of nobility, have created an
aristocracy for themselves. This aristocracy
boasts as yet no dukes, marquises, earls, or
barons, but the blue blood is there, it appears
?Dutch blood as a rule?and that is sufficient.
When a European nobleman arrives in the
3tates, the American aristocracy leave cards
ipon him at the hotel where he has alighted.
Be may perhaps be personally known to none;
but all nobilities are kindred everywhere, it
is an act of international courtesy, as it were,
rhe European nobleman, who often goes to
America for a doWered wife, Is much obliged
So them, and returns all the visits paid him.
A New York lady, who is quite an authority
upon such matters, told me one day that
society in New York was composed of only
four hundred persons. Outside this company
3f elect, all Philistines.
Money or celebrity may allow you to enter
into this charmed circlo, but you will never
belong to it You will bo in it, but not of it
rhe lady in question entered also into very
minute details on the subject of what she
:alled the difference between "society people"
md "people in societybut, in spite of all
ier explanations, 1 confess 1 did not seize the
delicate nuances she tried to convey. All I
dearly understood was that the aristocracy
if birth exists in America, not only in the
brains of those who form part of it, but also
in the eyes of their compatriots.
The desire to establish an aristocracy of
some sort was botjfcto haunt the breast of
the Americans; the only thing that
thgfrjgllars aeem^B^able
money, plutocra^Tpro belong to tma it is
lot sufficient to be a millionaire?you must, I
un told, belong to a third generation of millionaires.
Of such aro the Astors, the Vanierbilts
and company. Three quarters of
"nobility" are the necessary key of this little
cvorld. The first generation makes the millions,
the second generation is parvenue, the
third is arrivee. In the eyes of these people
to have from thirtyjor forty to fifty thousand
dollars a year is to bo in decent poverty. To
save two or three hundred thousand dollars
i year is to bo in easy circumstances.
The third aristocracy is the aristocracy of
latent, literary ana artistic society, mis
shird aristocracy Is incontestably the first, if
pou will excuse the Hlbornianism.
1 do uot think that one could find auyivhere,
or even imagine, a society more reined,
more affable, more hospitable, more
>vitty or more brilliant. I should like just
lere to indulge in a string of adjectives after
;be fashion of Mme. de Sevigno.
One of the consequences of the position
ivhich woman takes in tho United States
s, that in good American drawing rooms conversation
is never dull.
"If 1 were queen," exclaimed Mme. Re:amier
one day, "1 would command Mme,
le Stael to talk to me all day iong." One
vould like to be able to give the same order
? plenty of American women. In their company
conversation never flags and always renains
within the domain of causerio; they
;lide lightly from one subject to another, extracting
something fresh from each, pass
!rom the serious to the gay, even to the frivoous
without becoming commonplace, soar
tgain to lofty heights, but do not disdain to
:ome down to gossip for a minute or two; all
;his without a grain of affectation, but with
i charm of naturalness that is delightfully
vinning.
French women aro the only ones I know
vho can compare with the American lady in
:harm of conversation, and even then I am
ibliged to admit two things: that the Amerian
women of intellectual society are often-nore
natural than their French rivals, and
hat they make less effort to charm. In a
vord, with them you aro amiable without
laving to bo gallant, and none of those
itereotyped compliments, which so often spoil
;ho charm of a conversation between a man
md a woman, aro expected of you.
Tho Americans, and that in every station
>f life, have almost always three names: one
Christian name and two family ones: George
[Washington Smith, Benjamin Franklin
rones, William Tell Brown. 1 should not
iavo been astonished to make the rwqueUtt**.mce
of a Mr. Napoleon Bonaparte Robinson,
rhe celebrities do not escape it any^more
:han tho rest: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
lohn Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell
aolmcs, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Richard
tVatson Gilder, James Russell Lowell, Ralph
rrr.i_i. n ? TT \T7 l r>
VYIUUO Liocrsuil, IlUUJJf VV {U U UfCUUUl , CiAi.t
itc. Cau one not soo In these double names a
;itle which the father thinks he confers on
lis child at the buptismal font?
All now societies have the same weaklesses.
On the morrow of the Revolution,
lid we not call our children Epaminondas, 1
ueonidas, Darius, Napoloon, etc. ?
Every American with the least self respect 1
s colonel or judge.
Few escape it, as Mark Twain once renarkod
of the decorations of the Legion of 1
donor. We are quits, Mark. America has i
i hundred times as many colonels as wo have
mights of the Legion of Honor. 1
When you are presented to a gentleman, in 1
in American drawing room, and you have
infortunately not caught his name, there is
to need to try and repair the evil; call him
^Colonel," nine times out of ten it is 6afe; if
uck should be against you, call him "Judge,"
ind you are pretty sure to be right. 1
If, however, pursued by the fates, you
honld discover that your interlocutor is 1
leithcr colonel nor judge, you have another
esourco; call him "Professor," and you are
lut of the difficulty; an American always#
irofesses something, an art, a religion, and '
rou are risking nothing.
I met a few American colonels who had ]
ocently been promoted "misters." They 1
vero so proud of their new title that they in- 1
isted on being addressed thua
CHAPTER X.
I am afraid it will make my readers' lips
vater, but hero is a list of some American
ortunes as 1 havo heard them stated:
Revenue at 5
Name. Capital per cent.
.Gould 8275,000,000 $13,750,000
. W. Mnckay 200,600,000 12,500,000
\ Vanderbilt 125,000,000 0,250,000
1. P. Jones 100,000,000 5,000,000
. J. As tor 00,000,000 4,500,000
..Asa
A. T Stewart 40,000,000 2,000.000
J. 0 Bennett .... 80.000,000 1.000.000
These oro the princes of the Land of tho
Dollar Tho largest English fortunes fall
short of these figures. The Duke of Westminster's
is reckoned at oiJy $80,000,000, that
of the Duke of Sutberlana"ht $30,000,000, tho
Dukoof Northumberland has $25,000,000, and
tho Marquis of Bute $20,000,000.
It is in mines and railways especially that
the colossal American fortunes havo been
mode.
I have not seen the town house or the
country house of Mr. Gould; but I know that
in the grounds of tho latter stand conservatories
estimated to be worth $250,000. I trust
this will give an idea of what tho rest may be.
I cannot guarantee that Mr. Gould is a
happy man. Concerning immense fortunes a
A mnniann rlpll In mftH Arflflfm _
and a great philosopher, said tome one day:
"No man can own more than a million
dollars. When his bank account outgrows
that, ho docs not own it; it owns him, and ho
becomes its slave."
Tho Americans, having no king in our
sense of the word, make tho [most of thoso
they have, republicans though they be. To
rend the pedigrees, published in full every
jAo a death occurs in one of these rich
families, is highly entertaining. A Mrs.
Astor died whilo I was in America, and, after
the enumeration of her charms and virtues,
which wero man^, came the list of John
Jacobs from whom her husband had sprung.
Tho Astors wore all John Jacobs apparently,
and wero mentioned as John Jacob 1, John
Jacob II and John Jacob HL Tho lino does
not go back very far, John Jacob I having
gone to America as a poor emigrant early in
this century, I believe, and laid tho foundation
of tho present grandeur of his house by
trading in furs.
It will not do to inquire too closely into tho
way in which some of America's millionaires
have amassed wealth. Strango stories aro
told of men so grasping that they stopped at
nothing, even to the ruining of their own
sons. When I saw Mr. Bronson Howard's
clever play, "The Henrietta," in which he
portrays a son so madly engrossed by tho oxrtitomanf
frnmWinfr n? thcx cf/v?lr AYnhnnfrA
as to try and absorb his father's millions, 1
thought the picture was overdrawn. Americans,
however, told me that the case was historical,
but with the characters reversed?
which made it still more odious.
As for the colossal fortunes of railway
kings, it is well known how thousands of
small ones go to make them, how the rich
man's palace is too often built with the stones
of hundreds of ruined homes.
There Is no other name than "king'' used in
speaking of the few great financiers, who
hold the bulk of the railway stock in America.
But tbey are not the only ones. There are
oil kings, copper kings, silver kings, and I
know not what other majesties in America,
and when you see the power possessed by
these, and the numberless tPusts, combinations
and pools, a power pressing often very
closely on the million, you wonder how the
Americans, who found ono king one too
many, should submit so patiently to ^>eing
governed by scores.
CHAPTER XL
The liberty enjoyed by American girls astonishes
the English as much as the liberty
of the English girl surprises the French.
From the ago of 18, the American girl is
allowed almost every liberty. She takes the
others. Sho can travel alone, and go to
concerts and even to theatres unattended by
a chaperon.
She is supplied with pocket money, which
she s]K5nds at her own sweet will in bonbons,
knickknacks and jewelry. If there is none
left for tho milliner and dressmaker, papa is
coaxed to pay them. She visits and receives
whom sho pleases?I ineaA thoso who please .
'^rd^b^^sho^m^^wi^ifyfung^airwho
takes her fancy, I do not say touches her
heart, sho says to him: "lam at home on
such a day, come and seo mo." Next day ho
may send her a ticket for a theatre and bo
? :? rr?
nur ubuuri# iui tuu cvcuiu^. ao iuuj uxiu^
ber flowers, offer her refreshments after the
play, and take hor home in a carriage. In
America, all this seems to be tho most natural
thing in tho world. This leads to no intimacy,
for a few days later it may happen
that ho meets the young lady at a ball, and
she conies up to him, and says: "I want to
present you to a friend; do tell mo your
name, 1 quite forget it."
Tho American girl, who appears to us
French so giddy and even fast, seems to me
to act according to the dictates of common
sense. Tired of tho old formula, "A lady
cannot' do that, it would be improper," she
says: "I will do it, and if I choose to do it, it
becomes proper." It is for woman herself to
make the law on these matters. "Why
should I not go to the theatre alone?" she says
again, "if your streets ore impure, it is for
you to cleanse them. Why should I not receive
my ball partners who please mot If one
of them were to profit by my seeing him alone
in the drawing room to take a liberty with
me, ho would be an ill bred fellow, and I
should have him properly shown out of the
house, and certainly it is not for such as he
that I should change my habits."
In trains, where the seats are constructed
to hold two persons, you will see the American
seek a place from one end of the train to
the other before ho will go and seat himself
by the side of a young girL He will only do
so when thero is no help for it I have many
times noticed men standing up in the local
trains, rather than run the risk of incommoding
a young girl by sharing a seat with
her. And L^n not speaking now of gentlemen
onW^^^tmen belonging to tho middle,
if nojffower, clas%Htfh? word "class" may
bojTsed speaking o^vtericanaXvith
what pleashro lYomomber the young
Smerican girls w'bofti i occasionally met at
Parisian partici in my youthful days. Their
pretty, brigh.- faces, tbeir elegance, their
unconventional charm of manner and animated,
natural conversation?all these enchanted
me. One never felt awkward with
them. Whereas with a French young girl I
could generally find notliing but absurd commonplaces
to say, in tho presence of Jonathan's
merry maidens 1 lost my timidity,
and could chat away with as little embarrassment
as I would with a young brother officer
of my regiment.
The AniQj^Ai^drl is still-without rivals in
Parisian drawin^l^oms, where sho is more
and more sought after. Meu seek her for her
gayety, nit or beauty; mothers look favorably
upon her for her dollars, tho younger
women tear her to shreds?nothing is waiting
to her success.
* And what spirit thero was in their danclntr!
What animation! What eves lit UD
with pleasurol Not a moment's flagging:
they danced with as much suppleness at 5 In
the morning as at tho beginning of the evening.
And why not, indeed* Such pleasures
ire harmless, and it is uot because a v man
has danced much in her girlhood that sho
should lead her husband a dance, when sho
has one.
Good scholars are as easy to disc ewer in the
recreation ground as in tho class room. Tho
morality of a youth is in direct proportion to
tho delight ho takes in play; that of a girl
may bo measured by her gayety and high
spirits.
I shall nover forget a young American girl
who sat at tho samo table as myself on board
tho steamer. The dear child, who was about
17, performed prodigies. I could scarcely betiovo
my eyes, and watched her with nover
[lagging interest What appetite I What a
little tablo d'hote ogress! I trombled for our
supplies and wondered whether tho company
had foreseen tho danger.
First of all, at 7 in tho morning, tea and
bread and butter was taken to tho hungry
one in her cabin. At half-past 8 sho breakfasted.
At this meal, sho generally went
straight through tho bill of faro. At 11, sho
hod beef tea and biscuits brought to her on
deck. Lunch time found her ready for three
courses of solid food, besides pastry, fruit,
etc. At G o'clock, sho did valiantly again,
and at 10 sho was regularly served with a
Welsh rarebit, or somo other tasty trifle, j
Notwithstanding this, I rarely met her on
deck, or in tho corridors, but sho was munch- :
ing sweets, gingerbread or chocolate.
After all, there are so fow distractions on !
board ship! Men smoke, play poker, or in- !
dulgo hi a littlo betting on tho run of tho
ship. Somo people sleep, somo try to think,
but unsuccessfully; others read; somo ladles
knit. -The American girl eats.
Tho American girl likes men's society for j
several reasons. First, becauso sho is well j
educated and ablo to talk on almost all topics. |
Sho con talk knickknacks and pretty non- j
sense, but if sho knows bow to describo tho I
"cunningest bonnet" lately invented in Paris,
sho can also tell you all about Octavo Feuillot's
latest novel, or even Herbert Spencer's
latest work. Sho likes men's society, because
it eulargcs her circle of acquaintances, and !
also becauso it increases her chances of mak- j
ing a good match. No matter how much
of a butterfly sho may bo, sho never loses
sight of tho future. Sho does not say, as she
sits musing on marriago: "What kind of man
shall 1 suitf but "What kind of man shall 1 1
chooso?"
Tho constant aspiration of theso young re- I
publicans is to bo one day countess, marchion- j
ess or duchess.
Tho number of- European coats of arms
which have been taken out of pawn, or re- j
gilt, with American dollars, is enormous.
Not long ago, a writer on tho staff of Tho
Paris Figaro counted, among tho guests in
ono of the most select drawing rooms of tho
Faubourg Saint-Germain, thirty-seven Amer- I
ican ladies bearing thirty-seven names of tho
most authentic French nobility. To namo
only tlloso which nro present at tho moment !
in my memory, the ih-incesso Murat, mother
of tho Duchesse do Mouchy, is American; tho
Marquiso do Chasseloup-Laubat is American;
the Comtcsso do Saint-Ronan, la Generale do
Charette, the Comtesso do Chevigno and tho
Comtesso do Ganay are Americans. Tho
daughters of tho great democracy have become
not only French in heart, but as royalist
as the most ultramontano of our eld dowagers.
Every ono knows how many American
women tho English aristocracy counts in its
bosom, and that that most Tory and most
powerful political association, called the
Primrose league, originated with Lady Randolph
Churchill, tho young and handsome
daughter of Mr. Jerome of Now York.
That passion for rich marriages, which
burns in tho heart of so many young American
women, often leads them to disastrous
results.
If ono may trust one's eyes, American law
allows young girls to marry their grandfathers,
or at least the contemporaries of
these worthies.
It is not rare, I may say it is quite common,
to see girls of 18 and 20 married to men
of TO and over.
An American told me that ho once went a
long journey in tho same railway car with an
infirm, hoary old man of 80, who was accompanied
by a girl of scarce more than 20. This
yo mg woman was strikingly beautiful. My
American friend admitted to me that tho
sight of her lovely face had tho effect of
making him fall quite in love with her before
their five days' journey was over. He
did not have an opportunity of conversing
with her, but on arriving at their destination,
ho resolved to put up at the same hotel
as the old man, so as to perhaps have a
chance of making more ample acquaintance
with his fair charge. To find out the name
of the young girl and her venerable grandfather,
he waited to sign his name in the
hotel register, until the patriarch had inscribed
his own. Imagine his feelings when
he read:
"Mr. X. and wife."
Hero is a joke that I culled from a Washington
paper." Is it a joke#
"A bachelor lately advertised for a wife.
A typographical error changed his ago from
87 to 87; but it made no difference, for bo received
ovei 250 applications from ladies
ranging from 10 to 00, and all promising love
and devotion to tho rest of his existence."
Here is another which 1 extract from a
comic paper The author seems to believe
that the American mother does not look on
such marriages with displeasure: j
"Mother?So "you" have engaged yourself T
to Mr. Jones. You must be a goose. He
has neither fortuno nor position. I know he
may one day be well off; his grandfather may
leavo him part of his fortune, perhaps.
"Daughter?But, mnmma, it is his grandfather
1 am engaged to.
"Mother?Kiss me, my child; you are an
angel."
The real American girl admires male qualities
in man. The perfumed dandy, dressed
in the latest fashion, the "dudo," as be is
called in the States, is not her admiration;
she prefers a little roughness to too much
polish. At a large reception given in the
New York Union League club in the early
part of the year, I asked a young lady who
were ten or a dozen young men who did not
miss a single dance.
"Ohf" she replied with an air of sovereign
contempt, "a few young dudes who have
been invited by the club just to keep up the
dancing; marionettes, you know."
[TO IJK CONTINUED.]
JttisccUantous grading.
THE FATAL KAIL.
The judicial inquiry into the circum
stances attendant upon the horribly sudden
and strange deaths of three persons
In the houso of the eminent Spanish
electrical scientist, Senor J uan Mirenque,
has just been concluded in Barcelona,
Spain, and, as was expected, has resulted
in the complete exoneration of Senor
Mirenquo from all blame. At the same
time there seems to be a tacit understanding
in the community that in such finding
the written law of the criminal code
had been less considered than the unwritten
law, that gives every man certain
rights for the protection of his
honor. The story of the case is a curious
one. well worth narrating.
Senor Mirenque is a man of {ull 55 years
of age. a thorough scientist, engrossed
most of the time in his studies and experiments.
possessed of an almost childlike
innocence of tho ways of the world, and
both respected and beloved by all who
know him. His fortune is ample and his
social standing deservedly high.
About seven years ago ho committed
tho folly of marrying a very handsome
young woman named Rosita Faranela,
whoso mother was the widow of an army
officer, between whom and Seuer Mirenque
a lifelong friendship existed. Rosita, a
girl of some 20 or perhaps 22 summers,
was in herself a poor assurance of a quiet
life to a husband then nearly 50 years old,
and there is reason to believe that she
very reluctantly bfecame his wife. Her
mother, however, compelled her and
wheedled liira so that tho illy mated pair
wero matched.
One of the witnesses in the recent proceedings
went so far as to say very plainly
that the young woman's conduct had been
so ill guarded that her mother would have
found difficulty in marrying her to any
man in good society who was not so abnormally
innocent and unsuspecting as
Senor Mirenque. Be that as it may, the
old scientist was quite infatuated wiihhis
young wife, and, for a time at least,
seemed very happy.
Tho friend who called oftenest upon
Senora Mirenque and was most frequently
alono with her was Lieut. Rafael Zaga.
On the 25d of September last tho
"saints' day" of tho fair Rosita was celebrated
by a grand feto in the elegant mansion
of her husband. Tho spacious garden
and tho conservatory wero so superbly
decorated, by means of electric lights in
colored giobes, flowers, drapery and other
adjuncts of light and color, that they
eonirinrl n nurtion of fairv land. A lino
orchestra furnished the music for the
dance The supper was one to bo remembered
And tho scene was enhanced in its
beauty and magnificence by the presence
of tho most charming of Barcelona's fair
ladies, escorted by caballeros of unquestionably
tho best society of tho city,
among whom Hosita moved like a queen
as well as a most gracious hostess.
Senor Mirenquo was present, of course,
and it was felt to be no small condescension
that, even upon such an occasion, ho
had torn himself away from his laboratory.
No one appeared to be happier than
he, and even thoso who deemed that they
had reason to suspect a scandal in the air
had their s ispicions disarmed by the manifest
cordiality, affection and confidence
that ho demonstrated toward his young
wife. Evidently, they thought, ho knew
nothing, for ho smiled upon Lieut. Zaga
and shook hands with him. as no consciously
outraged husband could have
done.
One of the chief adornments in tho conservatory
was a superb marblo bust?
three-quarters of life size?of Senora
Mirenquo, a birthday present from her
affectionate husband. It stood in a semicircular
spaco, backed by some rich tropical
foliage, and was surrouuded by a_proA
I
tecting silver rail, the supports of which I
were based ia its heavy marble pedestal. !
On ono side of it, near at hand, was the j
entrance from the parlors; on the other ;
side, a door that led to Senora Mirenque's
privato apartments; and beyond, through
a second conservatory, lay tho way to the
gardens. Everyone had to pass tho bust,
and all stopped to admire it as they went
by.
The feto was a complete success in
every respect, and it was almost daylight
when the last of the guests took their departure,
and their host, a weary old man,
was at liberty to retire to rest. But before
going he was very careful about seeing
personally to certain precautions. Tho
electric currents that had been supplying
tho lamps all the night had been furnished
from powerful storage batteries, and no
one kuew better than ho the dangers of
those contrivances, so he saw to it himself
that every one of tho batteries, was
disconnected and left in such condition as
to be absolutely harmless, gave tho strictest
orders that nobody should touch batteries
or wires, or anythingelse connected
with the display until ho could personally
supervise tho handling of them the next
day, and then went off to bed
In taking all this trouble ho had acted
very prudently; for, while several of tho
batteries had been completely exhausted
and were as harmless as so many blocks
of ice, there were others ^that had not
beeu touched or drawn upon at all, and in
which terrific energies were still bottled
up. sufficient to kill many persons should
they come in contact with the current.
In view of his prudent care tho subsequent
events wero all tho;more surprising
and inexplicable
Between 11 and 12 o'clock of the succeeding
forenoon Lieut Zaga made a
morning call upon Seuora Mirenque That
was a favorite hour for his visits It was
a time when the old man was almost absolutely
certain to be hi the laboratory,
when there wero not likely*to bo any
other visitors, and when his interview with
Rosita was least likely to be interrupted.
Tho servant who admitted the lieutenant
and went to announce him to her mistress
left him in the parlors From there
the young man strolled out into the conservatory.
well knowing where he would
meet the lady The gardener had evidently
been watering tho plants. *for tho
cement Hoor was quite wet The decorations
of tho night before were still in
place upon every hand, possibly looking
a little tawdry in the daylight; but there
was one. tho beautiful bust of his lovely
mistress, of which the perfection might
well challenge any illumination. Ho
stepped toward it. laid his ungloved hand
upon the rail lightly, and then?in that
same iustant?dropped to the fjoor as if
foiled by a bolt of lightning
A moment afterward Senora Rosita,
coming from her room into tho conservatory,
saw tho body of her lover extended
before her, and uttering a cry of alarm
bent over him. supporting herself as she
did so by placing a hand npon tho silver
rail. As instantaneously as he had fallen
so she fell, liko him, dead, her body thrown
across his.
Tho one shriek uttered by tho young
woman was heard by her mother, who
had been with her when she received the
announcement of Lieut. Zuga's coming,
and tho old lady, running out in affright
to learn the cause of the alarm, screamed
loudly when she saw tho two prostrate
forms, and, doing exactly what her
daughter had done?touching tho silver
rail as a support?shared tho fate of the
guilty couple, dropping dead with the
same awful suddenness.
Of course, no one saw these successive
tragic occurrences, but the shrieks had
been heard, and the manner in which tho
bodies lay demonstrated clearly just
what had happened, and that it must
have been as has here been described.
Hardly had the old woman fallen dead
when three or four servants appeared
upon the scene, and among them was
Senor Mirenquo himself. He had just
come down, he said, to superintend the
removal of tho electrical appliances. x |
His quick eyes and ready knowledge i
discerned in an instant tne cause ui wu |
^allfUg 6hKI&iT,> ^-^g-eleStWi; xf^iTt Vfifgr "
that in some inexplicable way had been
broken, hung down to and rested upon
the silver raU surrounding the bust, and
as it was of uninsulated copper, made a
perfect connection with it. And that wire,
despite all the care with which ho had
disconnected the storage batteries the
night before, was connected with one of
them?one of the most powerful of them,
which had not been used at all the preceding
night?and the switch was turned
on so that the wire was vivified with the
full, terrific and fatal force of the current.
Why, it was asked on the investigation,
had not the current, even under those
conditions, found its metal conductors
right down to the ground much more easy
and attractive a course for its harmless
discharge than through the human bodies
that had fallen victims to it? For the
simple and excellent reason, it was explained,
that Senor Mirenque, in putting
up the handsome bust of his wife, had
had the good idea of placing beneatii it,
between tho marble pedestal and the
cement floor of the conservatory, a sheet
of India rubber three-quarters of an inch
in thickness. That was intended simply
to prevent the marble from absorbing
water from the frequently damp floor and
becoming discolored by it; but it had ef
fected tho perfect insulation of the ped
estal, and tho only course open for tho
deadly fluid was through the human body
from tho rail down to the wet ground.
Of course it was possible tnat senor
Mirenque had overlooked that one storage
battery and neglected disconnecting it,
though he "hardly thought so." It was
also possible that some mischievous fool,
unconscious of the terrible trap he or she
was setting, might have tampered with
the battery that morning And it was
not improbable that the gardener might
have clumsily, and without noticing it,
broken down the light wire that had
fallen on the rail. Whether he had or
not he could not say, for he was so stupid
that he could not remember having, when
he watered the flowers that morning,
made tho floor so very wet as it was?a
condition that completed the fatal cer
tainty of tho trap.
Tho judicial investigation tardily arrives
at tho conclusion that the killing of
those three persons was "an act of Providenco,"
and people say "right;" they add,
"but what -a happy Providence that at
one stroke relieves Senor Mirenque of an
unfaithful wife, her lover and her wicked
old mother, who shielded her immoralities!"
A Cattle Ranch in Chihuahua.
The high price of land in the range districts
of the Uuited States has driven tho
wiser cattle men to Mexico Land is ob
tained here, for grazing purposes only,
for twenty-five cents to fifty cerits per
acre, which, if situated in Texas, would
bring $5 per acre, while land suitable for
graziug and including largo agricultural
and timber areas, such as wo have in this
portion of tho state, sells for seventy-five
cents to $1 an acre, and would bring
readily $10 per acre, did this country be
long to the United States. Tlioso who
have come here havo not regretted the
move. Tho cheapness of labor?common
cow hands getting $12 per month as
against $30 or $40 in tho north?allows
us to raise cattle cheaper thau there.
Englishmen havo been quick to see the
advantages of Chihuahua as a cattle stato,
and they rank among tho owners of the
largest estates in this state. They far
outnumber tho Americans in cattle and
acreage.
A United States senator is the owner of
700,000 acres of the choicest grazing and
farming lands here, in one vast body,
thoroughly stocked and on a paying basis.
Our markets for the sale of cattle are the
City of Mexico and tho United States.
At present, while low prices reign at the
north, wo ship to the city with best results.
A duty of 20 per cent, ad valorem
is paid to ship to tho United States on
steers only.
Here wo own the property wo graze on.
There is no purchasing of water holes and
then controlling tho surrounding dry
country, as in tho states. Your range
comprises what you have bought, and no
outsiders can trespass on your property.
This does away with overstocking and its
subsequent losses, so fruitful in tho
north. Government titles are, as a rule,
now given, as foreigners ouly purchase
under that right, even buying from privato
parties. The elements of successful
cattle raising are found here, i. c., grass,
water and shelter, unaccompanied by
droughts or blizzards. The fear of the
instability of the Mexican government,
and the inherent dislike that tho Texan
has always held toward tho Mexican, prevented
residents of Texas from occupying
this country years ago. This is now overcome
and a strong tide of emigration has
set in. ? Chihuahua Cor. New York
World.
Mamma-"I told you not to play
with that Jones boy, Arthur.'' Arthur?"I
wasn't playing with him, many
ma; I was just chasing him to give hiwL
a licking."?[Life.
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
I REMINISCENCES OF WESTERN YORK.
In 1851 or 1852, Davis Ilurns lived at Mr.
Richard Sherer's, near Hlairsville. He
was engaged asa farm laborer. Dave, like
many others who have preceded him in
these reminiscences, had a great deal of
self-confidence. There was nothing that
anybody else could do but he thought he
could do, too. Mr. Sherer had a great
many bees. One Sunday the family went
to church and left Bill Sherer and Dave at
home to watch the bees, with instructions ?
that if they swarmed they must settle
them and wait for one of the boys (I don't
remember which) to come home and hive
them. They hadn't been gone long before
the bees began to buzz about, and Bill and
Dave, with cow bells, plows, clevises and
anything that would make a noise, tried
to drown the hum and buzz of the hive.
They succeeded, however, in quieting the
bees, and they settled on the bough of a
peach tree, about ten feet from the ground.
The swarm was like Charlie Allen's "pone
of bread"?it was "a big 'un, and a good
'un, too."
' Nothing would do Dave but ho must - .
hive the bees. Bill told him he had better
wait. "No," he said, "You help me to
get the table and gum to the place ; I'll
hive 'em." Bill said: "Dave, you'd better
let it alone; them bees will sting you,
sure." "No, they won't; I'll smoke
'em." "Very wen,." saia jjiii, -gu aneuu
and you'll see." They brought out the
table, table-cloth and bee-gum to the place
and Dave was going to saw off the limb
and brush the bees into the gum. The
table was placed under the limb and Dave
mounted it and began sawing off the limb.
The limb was a heavy one, and it took
only a few strokes with thesaw to weaken
it. All at once it gave way and down
come the whole hive on top of Davis's
were of shining gold, morn
souls who lived in Walhalla wouldViarcl^^^*
out and havea furious battle, but by dinner
time their wounds would be healed. They
ate bacon and drank beer from the skulls
of their enemies. Odin, the terrible God
of War, would carouse with the souls in
Walhalla. This is the only instance I can
remember, in mythology, where Heaven
is pictured as a place of fighting and bloodshed.
It seems a remarkable fact that, etghteen
centuries after Christ was crucified on Calvary,
there should be a town built in civiii'/pd
and Christianized South Carolina.
which should bear the name of a heathen
Heaven?and such a singular, warlike
Heaven. It shows how people cling to old
names. McDonald Form an.
How the Farmer's are Taxed.?The
Springfield Democrat puts the question of
the great issues of the tariff in its broadest
and most convincing light when itasksthe
farmers, "Do you know where the shoe
pinches? For twenty years you have
been laboring hard to remove that mortgage
upon your farms and it is still un
paid. It bids lair to outlive you anu pass ^
as a heritage to your children. Twenty
years ago the highest tariff ever known
was enacted as a war necessity. It is still
in force. Since it was enacted what have
you raised or produced as a laborer that
has produced any protection? Not a single
item. You have held your own or
grown poorer. How has it been with
what you buy? Highly protected and
upon which you have paid 47 percent. To
be sure you have not paid that much to the
government. It has received only one
sixth of the taxes you have paid. The
other five-sixths you have paid has gone
into the pockets of the trjasts and of those
whom the 47 per cent./benefitted, while
your farm is still mortgaged and you have
just about held your own or grown poorer, Ju
paying forty-seven per cent, taxes, on^^^H
sixth to the government, which is RfflflflSH
than it needs, and the other five-sixtg^^^^H
the protective folic a7?. Farmers
about tlmMhings at d see fafl H
to even Jip matters a
head. This sudden change of/josition
aroused the bees and they sought revenge
for such treatment. Bill had taken the *
precaution to gi*e the bees his room
around the table, and there was no one
to share this apiary indignation with
Dave. No longer able to stand the storm,
he dismounted from the table and with
hat in hand, fighting like a Turk, he made
for a clump of bushes from which Bill was
looking on. Bill left as Dave advanced.
With both hands he knocked east and
west while he wa3 literally covered with
the bees. As Bill ran, Dave took after
him crying at the top of his voice : "Bill
Sherer, come and help me to get these
bees out of my head." But that was
no talk for Bill at that time. He wisely
thought prudence the better part of valor
and kept his distance. After Dave got rid
of the bees he took a fine comb and went
to the spring, bathed his head and combed
it. He said he combed out fifty stings.
His eyes and head were swollen beyond
recognition when Mr. Sherer's family returned
from church to find themselves
minus a swarm of bees. This, so far as I
knew, was Dave Burns's first and last experience
with bees.
While he was engaged at Mr. Sherer's,
*' /"1 u.. Hioro nn ? visit
Miss isancy *^ru3ujy iaui? mv.v v- ? ..?
one day and Dave undertook to show off
by kicking one of the dogs, which perhaps
thought it was monarch of all it surveyed.
The dog didn't approve of this arbitrary
conduct and slightly left the impression
i1*1 Qfl |)je of f|]p
der. It was a long time before Dave hearu
the last of that dog story.
John, Walker and William, Mr. Richard
Sherer's sons, with the Hoods, George M.
Hamrick and Plaxico'ssons, composed the
Bullock's Creek Band. John P. Hood,
Esq., was the leader. Some of the Nelson
boys belonged to it, too; but the abovenamed
were the band proper. This band
played at all the public meetings in Western
York when their services were called
for?regimental and battalion musters,
school exhibitions, Fourth of July celebrations,
<tc. They were a fine band and
drew a crowd whenever they were called
upon to play. We have incidentally made
mention of this band, but of the individual
members we have said but little yet.
Miss Elizabeth Sherer was the belle of
the Blairsville section, if not of Western
York, in her youthful days. There was a
graceful dignity about her person and
manners that was truly angelic. That
scornful pride and egotism that has wrecked
the fortune of many of her sex was conspicuously
absent in her case. Unostentatious,
she was the embodiment of all the
noble attributes that make woman an
angel in human form. She, with her sisters
and brothers, were members of the
Presbyterian church at Bullock's Creek.
She married Mr. James Plexico, Sen. Mr.
Robert M. Plexico married Miss Martha
Sherer, her sister. Than she the world,
never produced a better woman. She
died several years ago. Of her and other
membersof the family, we will have something
more to say hereafter. j. l. s.
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
WALHALLA.
Walhalla is the county seat of Oconee
county. The land where the town stands
was bought in 1800 by the German Colonization
Society, and the first building was
erected in 1851. Probably few persons in
Oconee county know from what the word
Walhalla comes.
In Scandinavian mythology, Walhalla,
or Valhalla, was a palace or hall where the
souls of kings and brave men dwelt after
death. Ip front of the hall there was a
beautiful grove of trees, the leaves of which