Exeter Times, 1898-8-11, Page 6T HN
EXETER VIME§
THE CASTINC1 AWAY -0010* of
Mrs. Leeks and Mrs.. Aleshirte.
• PART 1.
I two ene way freer). Seu Francisco
o Yoltheame, when in a very (Mena
tory else gradual repealer I became
aequeinted. with Mee. Leeks and Mrs.
Aleshine. The etearaer, ou wbieh I was
leaking a moderetely rapid passage iso-
iveras the. land of the legeuded fan and
the lacquered box, carried a fair com-
Plethent or paseeneers, most a arbour,
were, e.seterMane ; and, among these, ray'
attention was attraoted, from the very
first; day of, the voyage to two middle-
aged: women wite appeared to me very
unlike the ordinary traveler or tour-
ist. At first siglat they „raight have
been taken for fees:seers' wives who, for
Some nnueual reason, had deterznined
to make a voyage across the Pantile;
but, on closer observe -thin, one would
have been ape to suppose that they be-
longed. to the families of prosperous
tra,dessmen in some little country
town; where, besidee the arts of rural
housewifery, there would. be Oppoe-
tunities of becoming acquainted in
some degree with the ways and limn-
31er$, of the outside world, They were
not of ,that order of persons who gen-
erally take first-elass passages on
steamships, but the- stateroom emu -
pied! by Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine
was one oft the best in the vessel; and
although they kept very ulna to
themselves and showed no desire for
the oonapany or notice oe the other pas-
sengers, they evidently considered
themselves quite as good as any one
else, and with: as muce right to voy-
age to any part of the world in any
'manner or style n -hien pleaeed them.
Mrs. Leeks was a rather tall woman,
large boned and neusculani and her
well-breivned countenance gave hal-
cations cre that conviction of super-
iority which gradually grows up inthe
rainds of those who, for a long time,
have bad absolute control of the des-
tinies of a state, or the multifarious
affairs of a country household. ears.
A.leshine was somewhat younger titan
her friend, somewhat shorter, and a
great deal fatter. She had the same
air of reliance upon her individual
worth that anaemia -deed Mrs. Leeks
but there was a certain geniality about
her which indicated, that she would
have a good. deal of forbearance for
those who never had had the opportun-
ity or the ability a becoraing the
thoroughly good- housewife which she
was herself. ••
These two worthy dames spent the
greater part of their tirne on deck,
where they always' sat, together in a
place at the, stern of fleet vessel -whice
was well sheltered. from wind a,nd
weather. As they sat thus they were
generally employed. in knitting, al-
though this oceupation did not pre-
vent them ke,eping up what seemed to
me, as I passed them in my • walks
about the deck, a continuous conver-
sation, From a question which Mrs.
Lecke once tusked me about a distant,
sail, our acquaintance began. Theta
was no one on board for, ev.hose society
I particularly eared,. and as there was
something, quaint and( odd about these
countrywemen, on tha oceata which in-
terested me, I was glad to vary my
solitary promenades by an occasional
neat with them. They. were not at all
backward in giving me information
about themselves. They were both wid-
ows„ and Mrs: Aleshine was going' out
to) Japan to visit a son who had a pile
sition there in a znercantiba house.
Mese Leeks had. no ohildren, and was
accompanying her friend because, as
she said, she would not allow Mrs. Ale -
shine to =eke such a voyage as that
by herself; and because, being quite
able to do -so, she did not know why
she should not see the world as well
ae other people.
Tbese two friends were not educated
women. They made frequent mistakee,
in, their grammar, and a good deal of
Middle State e provizacialism showed it-
self in their pronunciation and. exPreez
seals. But, although they brought
roany, of their rural ideas to ,sea with
them, they possessed, a large share of
that coMmon sense which is available
anywhere, and they frequently. made
use, of it in a manner which, was very
amusing to me. I think, also, that
they found in me a quarry of inforrna-
tion concerning nautical matters, for-
eign countries, and my own affairs, the
working of wlaicb. helped to make as
very' good. ship friends.
Our steamer touched at the Sandwich
Islands; and it was a little more than
two days after, we left Honolulu, that,
about nine o'clock in the evening, we
bad the misfortune ta coma into collie -
Mon with an eastern -bound. vessel. The
fault was entirely due to the Other
shin the lookout on which, although
• the, night was rather dark and? foggy,
could easily have seen our lights in
time to avoid. collision., if lie had not
been asleep or absent from his post.
Be this as it mal, this vessel, which
appeared. to be a small steamer, struek
us with greet force near our bows, and
tben, backing disappeared into the fog,
and we never saw or beard of her
again. The general opinion was that
she wee injured, very much more than
we were, and th'at she probably sunk
not very long after the accident; for
when the fog cleared away, about an
hour afterwards, nothing could be seen
of: her lights,
As it ustally ha,ppens on oceasions
of accidents at sea, the damage to
our: vessel was, at first reported to be
• slight"; hut it was soon diseo-vered
that oat injuries were serious, and ine
deed disastrous, The hull of our
steamer bed. beeh badly shuttered on
the pert tiovr, and the water came in
at a most alarming rate. For nearly
twor &nee tbe crew end many of the
passengers Worked at the pumps, and
everything possible, was done to stop
the enormous leak ; but all labor to
;ewe the vessel was found to be utterly
unavailing, and little before naid-
night the dapto,in aanounced it wee
imponeble to keep the steareer afloat,
eta that we yeast ale take • to the
lambs. The night woe now eleare the
Mare were brigbt, and, as ,:ztelene,, Wee
but little wind, the see waendeMaara-
tively emooth. With all these edvati-
feees, the capteirs :lemma that
their wee no reason to appreherin dang-
er, and he thought that ee, non of
the following day we could eately make
a small iuliabited island, where we
ebould be taken off by some pa.ssieg
veseel
There was plenty of time, Jar ail ne-
cutlery preparation% and these were
mede with mime order atid subordin-
ation, Some or the ladies. among. the
cabin passengers WO1',6 greatly fright-
ened, and inclined to be hysteeical,
There Were pale eaces ale) tiniong the
gentlemea, But everYbodY qbeyed the
ealetaIn's oreers, and all peppered
tbeineeives fox the transMr te the
beets. Tbe first officer came among
us, Dane 'told eiteh et what boats we
were te take, mad Where we were to
piece ounseives on aeca, was assign-
ed to s, large boat which was to be
erineriPeilY occupied. by -ethereal::: pas-
• sengers; and cie / came up from nlY
stateroom, where had gone te‘ se-
• cure my motey and, some 'sortable val-
uables, I pet "on the companioe-way
Mrs. Leeks and. Mrs, Alesliine, vete Pee
pressed considerable dissatisfaction
wh'en they found, that e was not going
in, the boat with theta They howev-
er harried below, and -I went on deck,
where in about ten minutes r was
joie, he Mrs. Lecke, who apparent -
le had been looking for me, She told
me she had somethine very particular
to say to me, and conducted me to-
wards the stern of the vessel, .where,
behind one pf the deckehousesevefound
Mrs. Ale,shine. •
"'Look here," said Mrs. Lecke, lead-
ing me. to the rail and pointing, down-
ward, "do you see thee boat there, It
has been let downesel there ie nobody
in it. Thke boat on the other side hare
just gone off, full to the brim. I nev-
er saw so many people erowd,ed into
a boat. The other ones will be just as
packed, I expect I don't see why we
sliouldn't take this empty boat, now
we've got a chance, iustead of saueez-
in' ourselves into those orovided ones.
If any of the other people tome efter-
wards, why, we shall have our choice of
seats, and that's considerable of e
pane I should say, in a ti me like this."
"That's so," said Mrs. Aleshine, "and
me and. Mrs. Leeks would 'a' got right
in wben. we saw the -boat was empty,
if we hadn't •been afraid to be there
without any, man,. -for it might bane
floated off, and neither of us don't
know notlain' about towine And. then
Mrs. Lecke she thought of yone sap-
presin' a young man who knew so ;much
about the sea would know how to row."
"Ctli, yes," said I, "but I can not ina-
agine why this boat should.have been
left empty. .I see a keg of water in
in and the oars, and some tin cans,
and. so I suppose it has been made
ready for somebody, Will you wait
heee a minute until I run forward and
see how things are going on there?"
Amidships and .forward I saw that
there_ was same • confusion among the
people who were not yet in their boats,
and. Ifound that there was to be ra-
ther More erow-ding than at first was •
expected. People who had supposed that
they were to go in a. certain boat
Sound there no place,' and were hur-
rying to other boats, It now became.
plain to me that no time should, be
lost in getting into tbe small boat
which Mrs. Leeks heti pointed, out, mid
which was probably reserved for some
favored persozes, as the officers were
keeping the people forward and amid. -
ships, the other stern -boat hexing al- s
ready departed., But as I acknowledg-
ed. no reason why any Mee should. be
regarded with; more favor than my.self
and the taro Inman wbo were waiting f
for me, e slipped quietly aft, and f
joined Mrs. I,ecks and Mrs. Aleshine,
"We must get in as soon as we came'
said I in a. low. voice, "for this boat
-
may be diseoveeed,and then there will
be a rush fox it. I euspect it may have
been reserved for the captain and some
of the officers, but we hare as mita
right in it as they." • s
"And. more too" replied. Mrs. •L,eeks;
"for we had nothin' to do vvii h the
steerin' and, sraashire."
"Bet how are we goite to get down d
there?" said Mrs. Aleshine. "There's P
no steps." .
"That is true," said I. "I shauldn't a
wonder if this boat is to be taken o
forward when the others are
filled. We must scramble, down_ as o
well as we ea.n by the tackle at the I
bow and stern. get in first and ,e
keep her close to the ship'a side." ' t
n,"That's going to be ascratchy busi-
ness,'' said Mrs. Leeks, "and I'm of the n
opinion we ought to wait till the ehip o
has sunk alittle more, so we'll be
nearer to the boat." i
"It won't do to waite said "or we n
shall not get in it at all."
• "And. goodness 'gracious!" exclaimed
errs. Atestane, "I can't stand here, and
feel the ship sinkin' coed -blooded und-
er me, till WIVTO got where we can o
make an easy jump!" t
"Very well, then," said. Mrs. Leave
"we won't wait. But the first thing
to be done is' foe' eacb! One of us to a
put on one of these life -preservers, Two
of them I brought from Mrs. Aleshime's
And My cabin, and the other one I got k
next door, 'where the people had gone
off and. left it on the floor. I thought s
if any thin' happened on the way to n
the island, these would give us a chance
to look about us, but it seems to me
weal need 'ern more gettin' down them i
1 rupee than enywhere elee. I did in
tend puttint on two meself to .make el
for Mrs. Aleshine's fat; but yeu, taus
wear one of 'em, sir, now that you ex
gain' to join the party."
As I keew that two iife-preservesr
would eoe ee needed be Mr% Leeks
end would, greatly inconvenience her
1 aeoeptedethe erne offered me, but de
relined to put it on lentil it eheuldbe
necessary, as it would. interfeee with
my movements.
Very well," 'said, Mrs, Lecles, "if
5'0u -think you are eafe in gettin clown
witbout it, Ba Mrs, Alesbine and me
will 'put) oure on before we begin sail-
or-scrambline We kesow bow to ao it
for we tried. 'era, On soon after we
• started from, Sau Francisee. -And now,
Barb'ry Aleshine, are you snre you've
get to et.,v,erythin' you want, for i,t'll be
no ,use thinkin' about anythin' you've
foigot after the ship hassinkout Of
"There's saothin' else, I can think of,"
said M. Aleshine; "at least, flatlets,'
I can carry.; and so Isuppese we may
as well begin foe your talk of the ship
sinkin' under our feet gives met a sort
o' feelinn nke an oyster creepin' up
and down. My back." :
Mrs. Leeks looked over the side at
the boat, into which I had, already( descended, "I'll go first, Berb'ry Ale -
shine," saie she, "and sbow you. how."
The sea was quiet and the steamer
had already sank so much that Mrs,
Leeks' voice sounded frightfully near
nle although she spoke in a low tone.
"Watch me," said she to her com-
panion. "I'm guile to do just as he
did, and you. must follow- in the same
way."•
So seeing, she stepped on a bench
by the rail; then, with one foot on the
reit itself, she seized, the ropes which
hung from one of the davits to the bow
af the boat She looked down for a
moraent, and. then she drew back.
"It's no use," she said, "We must.
wait until she „sinks more, an' I can
get in easier."
Tins remark made me feel nervous
I did not know at what, moment -there
might be a rush for this boat, nor
when, indeed the etearner might go
down. The beet amidseipe on our
side had rowed away some minutes be-
fore, c,nd through the darkness I could
distinguish another boat, near the
taws, pushing off. It would. be too late
now for us to try to get into any
other boat, ancl I did not feel that
there was time enough for ma to take,
this one to apiece Inhere the two wo-
men could mere easily aeseend to her.
Standing upright, I urged them not
to delay. .
"You see," said I, "I can: reach you
as soon) as you swing yourself off the
ropes, and pil help you down."
. "If you're sure you can keep us from
comin' down too sudden, we'll try it,"
said Mrs, Lecke, "but I'd as soon be
drowned as to get to an island with
a broken leg. And as to Mrs. , Ale -
shine, if she was to sliP she'd go slam
through that boat to the bottom of
the sea. Now, then, be ready 1 I'm cone
in' down I"
So saying, she swung herself off, and:
he was then so near mes that I was
able to seize her and make the rest
of hen' descent. comparatively easy.
Mrs. Aleshine proved to be a more'dif-
icult subject.. Even after I had a
inn grasp of her capacious 'waist .she
refused to let go of tna ropes, for fear
that she might drop into the ocean in-
stead of the -boat, But the reproach-
es of Mrs. I,ecks and, the downward
weight of myself made her loosen her
nervous grip, cued, although we came
very near going overboard. togethee, I
afely placed her on one of ,the thwarts
•I now unhooked. the tackle frome tee
tern; but before casting off at the
bow, I hesitated, for I did not wish to
esert.any of those who might lee ex-
ecting to embark in this boat. But
could hear no approaching footstepe
nd from my position, close to the side
f the steamer, I could. see nothing.
Therefore I cast off, and, taking th,e
ars, I pushed away' and rowed to a
ittle distance, where I could get what..
ver view: was possible of the deck ef
be steamier. Seeing no forms ra0V-
ing about, I called out, and, receiving
o answer, I shouted a.gain at the top
f my voice: I waited for nearly a
minute, and, hearing nothing and see -
ng nothing, .1 became convinced that
o one wes left =the v,esser. I
"They are all gone," said I, "and we
will pull after them as fast as we
can."
And 1 bega.n to row towards the bow
f the steamer, in the direction welch
be other boats had taken.
"It's a good thins. you can row," said
IVIrs. Lecke, settling lierself comfort -
big in the. .stern sheets, "for what
liers. Aleshine and me would ba' done
-eiteislythhem ors, I am sure I don't
"Pd never have got into this boat,"
aiel.Mrs. Aleehite, "if Mr. Craig had
,ot beso here." .
You'd. Iia' gone to the,bottern, hang -
indeed," • replied her friend.]
n' for dear life to them napes."
I
- Wben I heel rounded the bow Of tee
p ettelimer, whioli epared, to Me to be
t raPhliy settlieg in the water, 1 Per-
e eeived et uo greet distauee several
Heine whieh of worse belonged : a the
s other boats, sett' I rowed 43 hard as
, 1 coleld, hoping to weds up with tileia,
•-• It matieh16'tashte .111loik<ellieptesutatfit°alleelietelYf- tsillre;
of the people 'who' had. crowded into the
other boats,probably supposing' thet
th,,s cage hibeen loaded and gone, Row
'sea a mistake could bave taken Pleee
I could, not divine, ancl ie was not eny
business to do so. Quite certain that
tee one wits left on thesinking' steer:1-
er, all I lied to do was to row after
tee other boats, and to overtake teem
as soon as possible. I thought it would
not take, nee very long to do this, but,
after rowing for half an home Mrs,
Aieshine remarked ' thet the lights
seemed as far off, ef not farther, than
wizen we first started aftesr theme
Turning, I saw that this was the case,
wed was greatly surprised, With only
two paasengeee I ought to bave come
up with those heavily laden boats, but,
after I had. thought aver it a little, I
considered that es each Of them waa
probably milled by half a dozen stout
salines, it wits not so very strange that
they should make as good or better
headway thau I did. '
1twasnot very bong after this that
Mrs. Leeks said that eae thought the
lights ern. the other. boat must be go-
ing out, and that this, Moet probably,
was due to the fact that the sailore
had forgotten to fill their lanterns be-
fore they started. "That sore of thing
often happens," she said,' "'when pee -
leave a.place in a hurry," ,
- To 13e Continued:•
HOW GERMANS EIGHT.
Stirring .inehient of the 1raneo4Pritsslaii
It seems that the Germans have a
story to match the charge of the Light
Brigade, at Babeela,va, equally magni-
ficent, and a, good deal more like war
than a blundering exhibition of cour-
age. George Bunsen, son of the famous
German savant, tells the story on, the
authority of the Prussian officer 'who
carried the order to Auerswald, at the.
fight of Mars -in -Tour, 'It became nee-
eessaxy to save the army, at any swirl -
eke by gaining time for more troops
tocome up. The, general in command
sent orders to two ca,valry regiments
toadvence; they were the crack regi-
ments of the Prussian service. The
staff officer rode .up to Auerswald, the
senior of • the two commanders, and
told him to advance • against the
French. "Yoa are not serious," was
the, reply, "yoa do not mean me to
attaek the whole French army?" "I
am serious; Ibring you positive orders
to do so." Auerswald bowed, and, send-
ing for the young Prince of Hohen-
zollern, ord'ered him immediately to
ride off the field. The young man said,
"I have done nothings to deserve this,"
and butdt into tears. SAttersw-ald re-
plied, "Your family has suffered quite
enough. I order you as a soldier to
do your duty and obey your command-
ing officer." He then ditected his men
to advance., first at a foot's pacer, then
a trot, then at a gallop. They did
so, and, were almost all, destroyed.
When the survivors had broken
through the French, Auerswald or- I
dared the bugles to sound the..assem-
bly ; slowly some 67 were mustered. 1
Auersiveld said, "Soldiers, I thank
you; you have done your duty. Long
live the king I" and fell from his horse,
mortally wounded. He recovered. con-
sciousness, but died the eext day,
About 300 only df the two regiments
remained alive, but the army was
sawed. ,
Lnyirr Oki vjoToRws PovirEn,
• suits an Autocrat Eat *bor., Jowl. sk
Oensidet' aveteble!4nas"Do,
te powers of
lam Queen, they are not uplimited.
There oxe some very curious restric-
• tions on the royal preaugative.
Qeeen cannot, for instance, cOnemuni-
cake with her subjects as pan the
Meet menial of her servants; nor can
she receive presents from her people
save ,theougli officers' of state or
frienne personally known idhet, Ma-
jesty.
,
Tb, e Queen could sell or give away
• the)341737 syt.eoreoduela.ot
e1 Invwasip• eaaa
with
Russia;
single loathing of patio =nee with-
out the consent of Perliandent. The
Queen his no power over taxation,
and could not create any new office
with fees attached to it., Neither
could 'see annex new fees to old
offices. She could, not increase the
wages oe ope of her fOetnaen, unlese
she did it out of her private fuuds
or without exceeding the allowance
made to her by Panlianient,
A curious cuetailnaent of the royal
prerogative is effected, by an act of
Parliament passed in the reign of
George 551. This ,act deals with Sab-
bath breaking, and in it it is distinct.
ly stated that the monareh canna
pardon offenders who heve been con-
victed of a certain form of
. SABBATH BREAKING.
Yet her Majesty could pardon 99 per
cent, of all the prisoners in the land.
•Thouge no act of Parliament is
complete until it has been signed. by
the Queen, her Majesty is subject to
the laws that she signs, and cannot
• liSStle a prtichuanation contrary to law.
If, for instance, it were the lew of
England, that no train should eravel
at a .rate exceeding fifty miles an
hour, the Queen mild not issue a
proolametion exempting a certain
train from the operation of the law.
NOT' can bee Majesty issue a procla-
mation which would. injute ths. com-
munity, such as, for example, a pro-
clamation exempting a whole terivn or
neighborhood. -frost serving on a
Though the Queen could recall any
subject from abroad, she cannot come
pel a subject to leaye this country.
This disability does not cease to op-
erate even in time, of war, and,
though at such a time the Queen,
,could call upon every able man to
take,uparras, she could not force a
.
single to leave the country,
even to carry, on a necessary war.,
, Her Majesty -could not set up courts
soon as , •
: THE STAR CHAMBER,
the child. of Henry VIPs. misguided"
genius, nor could she invest a spirit-
ual court with temporal power. Though
her decision is absolute after a prison-
er has been sentenced, she could not
interfere with the couree of justice be-
fore the ,Sentence has been passed, nor
, could. she exert any influence over the
I judges, Neither could she interfere in
1 e. case of private' as opposed to public
Iwrong. -
,The Queen is only person who
cannot arrest a suspected felon. No
action can be taken egainit her for
breaking the law, and therefore she is
precluded from making an arrest, as,
supposing the suspected prisoner were
Innocent, no action for false imprison-
ment could be taken egainst her Ma-
jesty. The law, indeed, assumes that
'the Queea can do no wrong, which
seeme about as absurd. as the legal, as-
sumption that the Queen cannot be
under age' and cannot die.
• The Queen cannot exclude a mem-
ber'from Parliament after he bas been
duly elected, nor can she delegate the
dirty of signing laws to any one.
The Queen's power of disposing of
territory in time of peace hasbeen
disputed. In time of war her Majesty
could hand over London to name to
bring the wa,r to an end, but It seems
clear that in time of peace her Majesty
cannot subject any part of the Ern-
pire to the sway, of a foreign; power. •
, TELEGRAPHING CHINESE.
Chinese cannot he telegraphed—fig-
ures have to be used corresponding to
certain words. Only one eighth 05 the
words in the language are in this code,
but this has been found sufficient for
practical purposes. •
•
ANEW POSTAL REGULATION.
As the colonel viciously tore up the
bulk of hiS mail•and threw it into the
waste -basket he remarked.:
There is one commonplace interdict
that I would like to see inscribed on
the walls of one postoffices.
What is that? inquired his friend.
Poet no billet was the reply.
EXCUSING- HIM..
I must confess, said Willie Washing-
ton, that I often 'waste'time worry-
ing about notbing, •
Well, said Miss Cayenne,. bezaghly,
self-preservation is the first law of na-
ture. •,
CITY OF SAN J1UAN,, Powro
eloreeenerainae.
• LIGHT FROM letTIYIP SUGAR.
The curious discovery has recently
been niade that light May be prooured
Vera common sugar. 'Alt you have te
do is to get a few pounds of lump sug-
ar and 'put it in the open sunlight for
some hours. On taking it into a
dark room it will begin to glow„faint-
ly at first, but afterwarcl with quite a
bright light. So strong is this luirdn-`
ous glow that photographs have eau -
ally been taken by the light. These
suger-light photographs are quite dis-
tinet, even it not quite so clear as or-
dinary photograph,s. •
airmammoosas
ICO.
.-ZATZOORMO.n2,.,' .14ieviTwOr
433)
itcreee'
nen.
llr
eta
Civie Biiilding and Pubile Squat*
6
HE BUILT SPAIN'S SIIIPB
ROM, HUNTLEY, ENGINEER "OF
VANCJAIrE1,B40.: '
tieVed to Vonstruct the Spaninli War Yes.
• Reis Voestroyed off Santiago, eiblv-They
, Were Equal to the Einest Vestels in the
' '
• Reba eluptley, superintendent en-
gineer of Vanoouver, enow.s more nbout
the cone -traction of the demolished
Spanish ships off Santiagoe than .nny.
°thee man in America, Ile is a Sootch-
man. ECe said: "I hava been on Many
big engineering jobs in my life, and
am, open for more, but the biggest I
was °vex' on Wae, during the 'construe-
tiou of three Spanish ships feom 1891
to 18,95„ was.sent for as an expert
from Seotlahd, and when I arrived at
Babe% Spain, I was told that I was to
be head foreman df the engineering de-
partment. There WOre, SiX foremen
tinder me, in the eoustructionot three
Spanish ships, that it was then dream -
et by 'Spain would be the finest in
,the world. 'These „ships were the. In-
fanta Maeria. Teresa,, th'e Vizcaya, and
the Almirante 0q,uendo. We eipeeted
to have them finished in three' years,
but 8.1 por cent, of the workreen und-
er us were Spaniards, and it took us
four ,yeers to complete tlie contract.
All the foremen and heals a depart-
ments were British, while the designer
of the engines was Jae leicKeehnie, who
is now manager ,of, the armaraent works
in Barrow-in-Furness. We hal every
advantage in studying the pecutiarities
of the eceentrie Spaniard, and'I have
made up my mind that the reason the
grand floating armaments that • I.
heaped to build were so easily demon
iseed, as they popped out of the neck
oe the bottle at Santiago was because
a, pante ,prevailed among the crazy -
headed Spaniards,. on board., ,They
WERE FIRST-CLASS CRUISERS
equal to the finest in the world. They
were built by ,Britishers exaetly on
British lines. So particular were we
about this tbat We tore to pieces work
that had. been done by the Spaniards
before we came, and they were the
pride of the experts, who built them.
Every, one of us felt as if a part of
our life had, been worked into these
majestic, creetures of beauty and pow-
er. Little wonder that I never came
so near blubbering in my lila as when
I heard of their demolition. •
Land lubbers wbo bave never thor-
oughly.. inspected a .first-class armor-
ed °rinser have little conception of tee
enormous amount of work put on them.
Imagine an army of workmen taking
four years to build three ships, and
think of the enormous amount of moil-
ey that was wasted by the Spanish
Government en -these magnificent epe-
cirnens of fighting machines. A British
first-class cruiser costs about $2,000,-
000, but the Theresa, Vizcaya And 0q-
uendo cost, I should say,. twice that
amount, or somewhere, in the neigh-
borhood of $4,000,000 each. No more care
could. possibly be put on any ships than
were put on themx. The engines were
fourteen hundred home power, and at
a test of speed made in October, 1896,
showed 13,869 h.p. Their guaranteed
speed was twenty and a half knots, and
they made it on their triantrips. There
was a twelve incla thick belt around
each vessel. Each had a Proteation
deck twelve inched thick, and turret
and. conning towers, covered with twel-
ves incb' plates. The London Engineer,
during 1894 gave some 100 pages ' of
epees to the description of these ves-
sels, showing that this journal con-
sidereri the construction of these mon-
sters as at that time the most inter-
esting engine,ering triumph of the day.
The length of the 'ships was ao feet
at the water line„ beam 65 feet two
inches, draught 20 feet 6 inches for-
ward, and aft 2e feet 6 inches; displa-
cement 6890 tone immersed; area 27,-
000 square feet. The weight of the ves-
sels was as follows: Hull, inoluding
armor, 3639 tons; armor, 952 tons; ma-
chinery, 1230; coal in bunkers, 420
tens; armament and ammunition, 426
tons. . •
AT THE TRIAL TRIPS
the Spanish Government was.represent-
edeby a large eommission including
eminent .naval constructors. The speed
of the ships was guaranteed, instead
of the power of the engines, and every
thing was satisfactory. In a few hours
about as many men as- it took to con-
struct these leviathians of the deep
blew them to "smithereens." In the
coal consumption test it was found that
ID 12 hours the ships consumed 1.43
pounds of coal per indicated horse pow-
er on a 12 hour ran. -
The contract for the bonding of
these ill-fated sbips was • let by the
Spaaisla Government in 1889 to Don
dose Martinez de la Rivas. They were
built on the River Nervion and the Eng-
lish managers and leading workmen
contracted. for by Sir Charles Palmer.
The eyes of the engineering world were
on the work, and every one of asevork-
Men looked upon the three sister ships
as something belonging to us, partly
our property. There is no sentiment
for the Spaniards in the, matter, I am
a. loyal British subject., but 5 tell you
when I heard of those &Ape being
smashed. to pieces I felt as if I had
lest some -one near and dear to me,"
• NO1' II15 LEGS.
A lineman peasant having gone to the
town to 13uy hireeelf a, pairs of new
boots, fell asleep by the roadside on his
way a home, and was stripped of his
chertshise boote by a light-fingered
tramp: but his sleep remained un-
broken till t lASSing wagoner, seeng
him, lying beef 'meows the tratsk, shout-
ed to him to take 1x53 lege out of tha
way. ,
'My legss ethoed the helf-aroused
Sleeper, rabbing hie •eyes: those legs
eint mime—mine had boots onl,
THEATER -LOVING CITY.
cotreepoudent et the Frankfurter
Zeiteuig 'writes that, in proportion to its
Wee, Bercelona is the most theater -
loving pity,. in the world. -With half a
million inhabitants, it Las 11 theater%
one of which hoide 3,600 epeetators, halt
a dozen music halls, ete., all of which
are crowded nightly, notwit•hetanding
the
MEDICINE HAT'S SHOW BEAR.
00* rerrote Ilas Ittaoe Cosy& out of Ulm
• to Boy Out &ISaloon.
A letter teem Medicine Hat. North:.
west Territory, says: --Bill Perrinit'esto
bought the saloau and lunob room next
utop2tehettifirgaitihreoa:ropstIlaetcliones ohferneitnet.hteol'nOtbilYal
of the people in Medicine Hat, who have
said, time -and egain, test Bill would
die a pOuper, Bill Perrino lia,s lived
here
ever' since there was a town'.
When the graders who built the Can-
ediase Pacifia RalIway reaceed tiie.
place they found rerrine diggiug for
gold. Ile told them so enemy storleO
of the big nuggets he had foutd, that
half the men wanted to quit work and
ge prospecting. For •severil years be
kept on lyingat snoh. a rate that he
earneSt the sobriquet of "Bogs
Perrine endeavored to promote mane
enterprisda, but no one wanted to bens-
.
sociated with him, for everybody be-
lieved that none of his vesionary schem-
es would ever bring h•im in a living,
, Three years ago an Indian brought
a huge brown bear, which was halt
tamed, to Medicine Hat. "flogore
11111" had only 50 oents 'and therdndiari
wanted $1 for, the bear. Perrine tried
to raise the raoneneand told (hairy one
of wheat be tried to borrow that be
had a splendid idea of how to make
Money with the bear. He offered. atim,
one who would advances the half donee
an equal share of the profits. BY sheet
perseveranoe he gonthe money, bat the
him in any business because ' was
5:10;11,1:12wiNavunlirlyti.o°agnoe4lin.itto tpaoledtuetishini phewditill
• BILL GOT THE BEAR: '
and began building a big pen' near the
Canadian Pacific Eailroad depot. Citi -
*Pits work beforeovofj4Gdlciile Hat
td had
nev
gatheredelseen
arounl jeering hare When the
bear pen done he pawned hes eirleand
revolver for p.o. Tlais money be put
iffaargatheebioeto:ittp:.cr.ixthunkldtralaaser4tiaroilnet apnrian'teadeliont,
"This bear has tree dollars and sixty-
hefivewiclelnhtes.seetVInerenehe gets, five .ciall..ers
,whNioeht.whiteliswtmecindgirneeg ttehop hl,detrhiesiopneeptiveiteef
the town, Bill's face wore a confident
smile as he sat in grout of his bear
pen waiting for the • overland train
from the east. Wbein the train, pulled
in Bill get up on the dry goodebox and
soon had a crowd around him. •
"I'm the Preeidunt of the Serciete
Lor the Pervention of Cruity. to Ani-
mals, ladies and gentlemen, an' I've
'gen 'this herien'ar every cent. I
bad, Now if some uv you will kindin
'make up the One thirty-five, we'll bun,
him from his Injun owner and turnelie
pore critter loose."
The appeal was effective. Bruin • -
looked out from behind the bars with
patJaties glance, that breught tears
to the eyes of -the ladies anarprofanity,
from the lips" of the gentlemen. It was
plain, they, said, that no mid but an
ladian wotild bave the heart 'to shut
up• such a magnificent monarch of the
forest in a small pen like that. A
stout Briton-- wbo said. he 'had •always
been a beliver in the liberty of both '
man and brute, constieuthd himself col-
lector. The 01,35 was soon raised and.
deposited in the box. Bill made the
Indian open the stockade, and. the hean
started off on a, slow trot toward the
wooas. The bell rang and the passefe
gers °limbed on the train, gratified
that they had beeri able tie peeform a:t
leeet one good. action 'While making
their overland journey. Bill hastened
away. to cateh the bear. The eitizens °
were dumb with a,m.azerrient,
"You durned fool, you could hive
got twice that naucl3„" said old Zan
Kemp, who was jealous of Bill's new,
Sound prosperity,
,
•
"Yeas, I guess $150 is about the
limit," said. Inn, as he • changed the
sign accordingly. From that day to
this the people on neatly every passen-
ger train which has passed. through
Medicine Hat have contributed e2.50
to see .
BILL'S BEAR SET FREE.
Sometimes the amount was not quite
made up and the beer was not tarried
loose. When the next train ca.rae
aeong,• however, $2..50 MIA still neces-
sexy to set bruin free. When this
sort of thing had beeregoing on for a
month Medicine Hat people began to
change their minds about Bill. He
even had a rival. • A man who bad
failed in the drug business tried to
divide tee profits with 13ill, but heeonle
had a little bear, and by this time Billet
bear seemed, "to know what was ex-
pected of him. His mute appeals were
so mach more convincing than those
of the druggist's beer that Bill got
most of' the crowd. Public sentiment
was against the ea -apothecary, 'too, end,
th.e citizens who eaugregated to meet
every overland, nein obstrented the
path -wan to the druggist's bear cage.
Bill's rival soon quit the businees
tend the beer, disgusted at his unsuc-
cessful career in civilizatiori, sought
his cave in the fewest to meditate over
his failure as a financier. Mean-
while Bill bought c,onsidereble Whinthe
et the ta,verie but at last he tame to
the conclusion that it eves cheaper to
buy the saloon itself, and began to save
his money: Twelve hundred dollars
was the price 13ill paia tor the aloon.
He has a. fesv hunared in the bank,
end his bear is still working. It has
becearie unnecessary -fdr Bin to make
any oratorical effort to induce tourists
to pant with the price of the belies
Freedom, end Bill, atter he tells the
stranger about the people of Medicine
Hat, who have be flume:sal ideas, often
a0d.s:
"That War of mine over there, if be
lives long enough, will /mike more
ntetiovnee.tt than any other 111,1,11 in this
•
OURELY NOT.
If I were only a man, she 81-11d,wS
COUld.--
Posibly we emild, he sale, but the
chaeces are we. wouldn't. If Yol,'
Wen -A, man T wouldee, be here. I'd be
saying' nice thiege to Somabody who
'wasn't a man.
Sometimes it is Worth while to think
ot siteh 'teeth as these, ,