HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1906-12-6, Page 2, • .
NOTES AND COMMENTS
An Nusleation of the power and infl-
enco of the labor party 10 Great Britain
may be found in the trade dIsputes bill
which passed tinsitouse of Commons
few days elm: The measure hes teen
and t1n is Vigorously tettielced by law-
yers, professors and employers of labor
as a plea° of flagrant class legislation,
as a revolutionary departure from cofl-
. stitutional principles and a menace to
Industrie] peace and equity. Yet it final-
ly passed the Commons without the for -
Malay of a division, Mr, Balfour an-
nouncing the withdrawal of opposition
to It by his party.
Originally the Government introduced
a trade disputes bill that differed mater-
ially from that offered by the labor
group. Subsequently the Government
threw its draft into the waste basket
and accepted the labor party's bill. Then
a queslian arose as to the sufficiency
and plainness of one of its major pro-
visions, and the laborites demanded the
adoption of a certain amendment. As-
• quith and linidaee, strong Ministez•s,
said that they would never accept the
amendment. A few days Inter they did
Accept 11, saying that they had yielded
to the wishes of the other Ministers.
Tories twitted them with their thnidity,
but when Balfour imposed silence upon
his folletvers and accepted the bill as
labor wanted it the laugh was on them.
All admit that the bill is retnarkable
In many respects. What does it do?
legalizes peaceable picketing for pur-
poses of persuasion, giving or receiving
information, and so on; it modifies the
law of conspiracy by providing that in
trade disputes no concerted action shall
be deemed criminal or tedious unless
the same action would be tortious if
committed by a, single person. It legal-
izes advice and suasion involving breach
of contract, and, above all, it secures ab-
solute immunity to union lends by pro-
viding that no union shall be liable in
damages for torts committed by officers
or agents in its bebalf, the liability
resting on the individual offenders only.
This feature annuls the famous Taff Vele
and other judicious decisions which had
the effect of conferring a semi -corporate
and "responsible". status on the trade
unions.
The advocates of the bill deny that it
Involves danger or injustice. They say
that it merely restores a condition which
had existed for thirty years with the
connivance of all parties and of Parlia-
ment. They point out that it applies to
employers' unions as well as to unions
of employes. The oponents of the bill,
however, think it mischievous and de-
plorable to specifically exempt trade
unions from liabilities and restrictions of assistance aboard.
that are borne by all other bodies and First he took from the hand of an of
make them a ileged -
fleer the half of a eacoanut shell, from
prie•class under the
WONDERFUL ILLUSIONIST
110W INDIAN FAKIRS mom
THEIR mum FEATS.
An Insight Into the Methods of Perform
ing Thew Marvellous
Feats.
The Indian fakir Is the world's mos
wonderful ilbusionint, It is easy to de-
clare his feats are all humbug; it is
easy to laugh at persons wig), having
seen his performances, regard birn with
awe and wonderment; yet It is a fact
that no Europeen juggler, Illusionist,
scientist, or other person, has success-
fully performed any of the Important
feats accomplished by Indian fakirs,
This article does not attempt to show
bow the tricks are done, It merely
gives the opinion of those best acquaint-
ed with the subject—experts in occult-
ism and hypnotism.
Understand, in the first place, that
everything in a fakir's performance is
illusionary. Any attempt to photograph
It results In failure. The plate reveals
teething. You are simply made to see
things which do not exist.
And what things? This is one trick,
which you can see being performed in
isdia in many cities on the days If
general festivities, Round a fakir, a
wiry little man, whose clothing consists
only of a loin -cloth, Inc assembled a
vast audience. The little fellow in the
centre gives a shrill whistle, and throws
up into the air what appears to be a
rape. You wait for this rope to fall,
but it doesn't.
THE BOY WHO CLIMBS TO THE SKY.
it straightens ilsell out, and looks
just as 1111 were hanging from the sky.
The fakir claps his hands, and gives
vent to another whistle. Apparently
out of nowhere, for the crowd are quite
fifteen feet from the fakir, a boy ap-
pears, clothed in the manner of his
-master. The fakir picks up the boy, and
flings hint into the air, towards the
dangling rope.
You hold your breath while the boy
clutches hold of the rope, and shins
up it, monkey fashion, till he disappears
from sight, in the clear sky. A few
moments later, up goes the fakir, until
he, too, is lost to view. Suddenly, from
the sky you see and hear sections of the
boy's body fall and strike the ground
with a dull thud. Then the fakir re-
appears, descending the rope, first, es
a. mere speck in the heavens, but gradu-
ally becoming larger as he nears the
ground. The fakir gathers the boys
head and limbs and body, sticks them
together, and behold! the boy, all smiles
and activity, runs once round the fakir,
and then disappears as mysteriously as
he came.
WATER FROM A COCOANUT.
This, the favorite feat of Indian fak-
irs, has been -witnessed scores of times
he officers and other Europeans whose
word Is indisputable. The anthem' of a
British warship, having several civil of-
ficials aboard, vouch for the following
particulars. Their ship bad come to a
halt in an East Indian port, niter a
journey of many thousend miles, when
the fakir made his appearance, swim-
ming through the surf and scrambling
tr, the dock by the anchor -chains. Thus
113 had no confederate, nor any means
law. The lords were expected to change
the bill beyond recognition. The with-
drawal of tory opposition, however,
alters the situation. Tho tory leaders
feel that they cannot appear to be less
friendly and generous to labor than the
A new method of sterilizing milk, re-
ported to have been discovered by Prof.
Behring, dispenses with boiling and
does not destroy any of its essential
principles. The method is said to be
based on the powerful qualities of Ger-
man perphydrol, simply oxygenated.
One gramme per hire of this substance
is sue:Went to destroy all noxious
germs. Milk thus sterilized can be kept
long time and is not injured by tra-
velling, but it cannot, be drunk until it
bus been warmed and a drop of cataly-
tic substance added. Dr. Behring has
proved that light has a harmful effect
upon milk, whether sterilized hot or
cold, and he recommends that It should
be kept in a dark place or in red or
green bottles.
A precious plant, discovered in Bra -
01, Is a new textile growth, which is
caned the Brazilian, or Perini, flax. Its
fire is said to combine the qualities of
hemp and flax. Dr. Vittorio Perini first
discovered it in its wild slate at an alti-
• tude of about 1,000 yards ehaveSett level,
Having gathered some weed, he expert --
merited with the product at his planite
lion near Rodeiro. By this means ho
was able to classify and domesticate the
leant and to learn how its domesticated
culture could be perfected, and to study
its peaetical value in the manufacture of
cloth, cordage, and paper. It is said
that the new material has been success-
fully used in Italy.
IIOW TO GET FRESH FISH,
Pletisburg, 4 seaport town on tho east
eeesef seeleswig-elolstein, hes an ex-
cellent system of bringing to 'port fish
which are -intended for immediate con-
etimption. Instead of packing the fish
In the bold 01 the vessel, the (Mermen
use flat, oblong boxes, drilled with holes
10 allow free Pease of water, and Into
these the Titre 116 are pieced as soon es
Wight, and ere towed under weter, 13y
Me melee the esti are 'kept alive until
• the harbor IS t cached, and they are then
• taken out of the boxes and sold alive on
'the gutty, so that there Oen he no qUee-
- Roe 5,5 .40 their absolute thesitneeig,
which, when held aloft, he caused
twelve pailfuls of water to flow to the
deck. A largo earthenware dish was
next borrowed from the pantry. The
fakir poured into it a gallon of water,
and held it on his outstretched left
hand, placing the other hand an his
forehead. As the crowd of officers and
men stood watching in wonderment,
the dish began to shrink in size, until
it entirely disoppeared. They still star-
ed as a brown object, like a grain of
send, gradually grew larger and larger,
and assumed its normal dimensions,
and was found not to have spilled a
drop of the water poured into it.
WHAT TIIE CLOTH PRODUCED.
Another performance of the same fakir
was still more amazing. On first reach-
ing the deck after leaving the water,
he had united a large red cloth from
the back of his neck, where it had obvi-
ously been stowed to keep dry. This
ho passed round the company for in-
spection. It was merely an ordinary
cloth, of coarse texture. Spreading
rot upon the deck, the fakir walked
round 11 several times, muttering in his
throat, and occasionally turning his
eyes upwards. MI eyes were glued to
the cloth, under which something was
apparently growing in size.
Suddenly, out hopped a grinning end
chattering monkey, which danced all
round the deck; it was followed a mire
Mt later by an ugly and venomuus-
looking cobra, wriggling away from the
c:oth to the feet of the astounded be-
holders. Once again, something. fur
larger than the others, began to stir be-
tteath the cloth of mystery. Soon a girl
of about fourteen year's of ago emerged
and stood smiling at all around her.
While those sturdy Jack Tars stood
rubbing their eyes, and pinching them-
selves to make sure, thnt it was 050 a
dreain, the fakir clapped ,Iiis hands, and
monkey, rotten, and girl vanished into
the air. Then, quickly folding up the
cloth into a bundle, and without solidi -
Ing Money from officers Or cretv, the
fakir leapt into the sea, swimming
away with
EASY AND GRAGEN.3., ST110KES,
M an explanation of these marvel,
thus feate, 11 18 generally aceepled that
Indian fakirs, by long sojourns end
medifinien alone in the jungle end by
heredilary, or 501110 secret power, are
enabled, by merely forming, pictures In
their own tifinde, to produce illusions
in the minds of those perenns who
crowd about them, expecting to eee
Softie wonderful feat. The pictures the
fakirs conjure up they mentally ingress
upon the minds of their Street:dors. IL
is different 11010 hypnotism, in that, not
ane person, but, a hundred or a thou -
send. willing or unwilling, become the
victims of •Ilie, (niche.
Tills colleetieo heltheinellen, ea es.
picture of a thing we have seen before,
an °Wetly° them of that, thing comes
Into existence within our mind, and Is
composed of the substance of our Ma.
mind.
11, by centinual practice we pin suf-
ficient power to hole on to Wet image,
and prevent Its being driven away by
ether thoughts, it will become compare.
iit ely dense, and be projected upon ihe
menial sphere of others, so that they
may actually believe they see that which
really exists only as an image within
our mind,
On the other hand, If we meat hold
oa to that ono thought—that. mental
picture—and control it at will, we can-
not produce Ils rellyetien upon the
mind,' of ethers. Europeans fail to 51"
produce the feats of fakirs through
weakness ef concentration and of con -
trot of their own thoughts—which Inc-
ulithe are extraordinarily strong, even
in the average Hincloo. — Pearson's
Weekly.
LAUGHABLE INCIDENTS
LITTLE ADVENTURES THAT RAISE
SMILES.
Medical Men Chased by a Lunatic —
A Man Who Could Not
Get Up.
A young medical man had quite en
exciting adventure a short time after
he had been appointed to the medical
staff al an English asylum. He was a
somewhat nervous young man, and was
not altogether sure regarding the atti-
tude which one of the patients adopted
towards him. Tliis patient was a leg
fellow, east in the mould of a Sampson.
The frantic alarm of the poor doctor,
may be imagined when, while out in the'
grounds by himself one day, he saw the:
patient approaching him at a run. The
doctor thought it advisable to lake re-
fuge in flight. Then a hong chase en-
sued, along walks, over flower-bede,
across lawns, behind gardening sheds,
a chase which lasted until the doctor
fell to the ground, utterly exhausted.
The end of the harrowing story is,
that the patient ran up to him, lapped
lum playfully on the shoulder, and said,
"Tbggy!" Ile was playing "touch."
'While a workman was engaged in
taking water from a fire plug in Com-
mercial Street, Leeds, he turned the
handle too Inc. The result was a ti•e.
mendous burst of water, which caused
the drenched workman to fly
ignoonbn-
ausly. Then there was the uncommon
spectacle of a waterspout in the centre
of
THE TOWN'S PRINCIPAL STREET.
The :plucky workman, mustering up
his courage, returned to give battle to
the waterspout. Ile turned the handle
the wrong way, with the result that the
column of water rose to a height cf
thirty feet.
The poor workman retreated again,
while many people in the street got wet,
and retired to a respectable 'distance.
Nothing daunted, the worlonan again
tackled the waterspout; he made an-
other dash for the handle, encouraged
by a large crowd which had pthereil.
The street was practically flooded for
a long way around, and the man had
a most exciting time in his heroic en -
cleavers.
At last he succeeded, and emerged
from the contest, a bedraggled -looking
oreubur8, amidstt ld chaers.
Another awkward little adventure
with a jet of water occurred when Mme.
Calve appeared in Carmen at the Con-
necticut Opera House. A huge crowd
ef students from Yale College gathered
mound the stage doer to welcome her,
and, like all students, they soon became
very lively. Their pranks got so excit-
ing, that they were called upon to Ws-
perse. As is the nature of students,
they refused, and their wildness in-
creased.
The theatre officials then got out the
fire -brigade hose -pipe, and turned a jet
of water upon them. ;lust at that mo-
ment Sime. Calve herself appeared, with
the result that she was
DRENCHED FROM HEAD TO FCOT.
SOME DRAMATIC SCE
ECCENTRIC BRIDES WITS SAY
Al' TIIE ALTAR.
Wedding Ceremonies Which
Been Abruptly Slopped al
Last Moment
NES
"NO"
Have
There was an extraordinary scene in
a New York church the other day, eas-
el by the eccentric ectien of a youthful
bride, Miss May Constauee. When she
was asked by the clergyman if she toek
the behlegroutn as her busband, she
screamed at We top of her voice, "No,
no'Irile"
\Veverybody stood aghast, she
gave her almost paralyzed sullen a
glance of withering contempt, turned n
her heel, and marched straight out t•1
the church. The next Moment the
bridegroom burst into tears end wrung
his hands in its grief at this &emetic
ending to the marriage ceremony. Ile,
however, had but himself to thank fur
11. The bride was told that morning
by one of the bridesmaids that the
fickle young man had actually proposed
to her while engaged to Miss Constance,
whom he had only escorted to the niter
because of his rejection by the other
young lady. So she determined on a•
startling revenge, and carried it out to
perfection.
Some time ago before St. Catherine's
Church, Moscow, Pennsylvania, was the
scene of a similar
SENSATIONAL ENDING
to a wedding. The "high contracting
pieties" were Miss Margaret Moors and
' Timothy Foley, and the officiating
minister was the Rev. Father Walsh.
When the bridegrom had duly mode his
responses, the priest turned to the bride
end asked the question whether she
Look "this man for better or worse,"
whereupon she interrupted him with
the remark, "Father, we are not married
yet, are we?"
On receiving en answer in the nega-
tive, the bride remarked, "Then I guess
we won't be," and without another weed
turned and walked out of the church.
The wedding of yet another American
bride was terminated in the same
abrupt fashion. Miss Frances Miller,
of Chicago, the bride, had presented the
bridegroom with a tie which he was lo
wear at the ceremony, The young man,
however, had not been able to lIx it to
hie satisfaction, and he had accordingly
donned another. This was not noticed
by the bride until her intended was
pledging himself at the altar, and she
was much incensed at
TIIE SUPPOSED SLIGHT.
On being asked whether she would
have the man as her spouse, sho sharp-
ly replied, "If it is not too late, I will
not." The wedding -party did not know
what to do or think; but the bride quick-
ly relieved the situation by appealing
to her father to lake her home, which
he did at once. She is still a spinster,
end likely to remain one, so far as the
jibed bridegroom is concerned.
A Manchester, England, young lady
said "No" at the altar a mw years ago
under circumstances of an unusual or-
der. She had been wooed and won un-
der what amounted to heartless false
pretences, and the fact coming to her
knowledge at the eleventh hour she de-
termined to balk the impostor at the
last moment. So, when the minister de-
manded to know whether she accepted
him for her husband, she responded
with en emphatic "Not if I know it."
which sent a thrill through the assem-
bled company. Somewhat puzzled al
this unexpected reply, the clergyman
repeated the words of the Pince Book
whereupon the bride declared, "I will
db first!" and fainted away.
While efforts were being made to 1p -
skim her the bridegroom stole quietly
off; and it subsequently transpired that
he had been stealing fn a more literal
sense for a considerable time, and that
he was actually a fugitive from justice
while posing ns
A MAN OF WEALTH.
On one occasion, in a San Francisco
church, a wedding -party was treated to
the edifying spectacle of a bride reject-
ing a bridegroom because he would not
undertake to obey!
This reversal of the usual order el
things matrimonial could not have been
permitted even If the bridgroom had
been willing. 13111, in order to get the
young body to the altar, he consented
to make the promise 08 she desired,
though without the least intention of
doing so, whether permissible or not,
The service proceeded in the usual
way until 11 was Um bride's turn to give
her pledgee, but, when asked if Site
would have the bridegroom as her wed-
ded husband, she replied. with a toss
of her' head, "Not until he promises to
obey me in all things."
The clergyman was evidently shocked
at this condition, and remarked that
it could not be introduced in the service,
which required the wife 16 racier obedi-
ence, and not the husband. The ghl,
hewever, refused to dispense ,with the
p1101181, and the wedding was not pro-
ceeded with.
Not long Mime a St. Louis girl, who
hod been forced Into an engagement
with n wealthy elderly suitor by her
ambilinue parents, gave vent to her sub-
orned ferlinge le the course of ilio ma-
rling ceremony, 11 woe n greet func-
tion with a church crowded with guests
and most elaborately decorated. To the
bri-te, howeVer, it was all
A HOLLOW MOCKERY,
Cndn
ilalctihnee7fille ligniClIcAbleheint
forced on her, she declared, ha a loud
vette, "As this is the first time 1 have
been oshed, I say once and for all 1 Will
not."
The tangregation wore thunderstruelc
by this unexpected hite,11 In the proceed-
ings, rind before they bled recovered
from thee, rielonishinen1 the bride had
sped them Iia churn end driven rapidly
rimy with her lover of her own
to whom she was united a couple of
hours Infer In a. eithurbon clinrch.
It would be herd, Indeed. to divine Ilia
melee which prompted 1110 ncliorl
it Dutch girl 111 enyleg "No'enelhe altar,
The young ,nicier be Mom she lind
gaged herself was an eligible stator in
She took her ducking good-humoredly,
and sane hetepurt in Carmen with more
than ordinary fervor.
just es awkward an incident occurred
at the Lyric Theatre, London, while the
piny was In full progress. Without
the sliglithel, warning, the water sprints
lers commenced to work. These sprints
lees are fixed all about the siege, so
that the flames cooed be put out you
rapidly in ease of tire.
The result was thin the performers
ond oicee4tft received a sound drench -
big, as it was found impossible to stop
the sprinklers until the water was turn-
ed off et the main. Naturally the sud-
den flight el the tweets and instrumen-
talists ocensioned considerahle merle
-
mint amongst the audience, the WWII),
coetinuitig for some time after the piece
was eventually resumed.
A very ludicrous adventure happened
n London man who tteS seen sitting
en the roadway outside Highgate Police
Station. The nature of it soon Unmet,
ed—he voted riot get up. The difficulty
arose from the fact that the man heti
sab down en Scale wenn tar, left in the
road by workmen, who lied Vein lay -
Mg wooden blocks. The police very
kindly provided the erten with enough
brown paper In cover the deficiencies of
his gartered equipment, so that ho might
en able to Mt down in the pain sta-
tion
WITHOUT STICKING FAS -11
Quite gruesome is an adventure which
Immoeil le some laborers who Were
linthaling the carne of a vessel at, the
AllierDett London. The lid of a large
eemeieele became unrn „I on,d, and a
(Windily of linia,r ran from II, The
sorting smell from the branched cook
gave eifincient Inillealien that Ilie liquid
we'; spirit,. As lids WAS running to
Wosle, n number of the laborers &rink
sCane of 11, nnil pennounced 11 to he ell
excellent, drink. The Customs Officiels
cattle In make inveeligallone. Upon el: -
millirem the murk they found it contained
perk term it, is. Induced by Wore by th huge Heard, which had been, ehipped
rensOn of ilieir knowledge of the t•elti- a, a medical specimen, 01 course, It
(lona thee exise between obiecilive and hail been immersed In spirit in order
subieetlY0 atelee ef odedence. 101' 11151 It might be preeerved,—Pearson's
thelatioe, If tve coneeKo lb our 110110151110110151i d a e,veeely,
an respects, yet when they were about
to be made one she amazed the officiat-
ing clergyman by declining to be Mar-
riott.
Overwhelmed with grief at les Mee -
(Ion at the eleventh hour, the unfelt".
nate suitor led himself in Germany,
weere the apparently repentant bride
very soon afterwards went in search
nf him and begged hint to return home
turd marry her,
;limed by her teem end entreaties, be
at length consented, but, incredible es
bb any seem, only to again undeegn
the bitterness of rejectinn at the eller,
When asked lhe all-important question.
the flekle-mincled bride actually said
"No" for the second time; and slanil
wonder that the outraged bridegroom
thereupon again disappeared, and this
lime for ever.
CLINGS TO HIS MOTHER
BOY'S AFFECTION STRONGER THAN
ALLURING OFFER OF FATHER.
Mother Appeals to Court for Aid lo Keep
Consumptive Lad From
Early Grave.
A pathetic case is now occupying the
French courts, in which a consumptive
boy had to cheese between semesterva-
lion and probable death with his
mother, and luxury and all care with his
father.
In 1886 M. Jacquet, the son of a man-
ufacturer, was a student in Paris, where
he met and fell in love with a pretty
milliner named Mlle. Mallard. After
four years of mutual affection, a child
was bot•n, a boy, who was hnmedialely,
as is allowed in French law, officially
recognized by the student as his son.
Then the romance of student life came
to an end. M. Jacquet- had to leave his
companiot and enter his fattier's busi-
ness. He gove ,her $600, and agreed to
pay $7.50 per month toward the support
of his son until he attained his majority.
Shortly afterward he got married.
BABY PUT TO NURSE.
Meanwhile, the little milliner, having
to set to and earn her living, put, her
baby out to nurse. After some months
she discovered that the child was
initiated with tuberculosis, having been
kept in the same room with a dying
man In the last stages of consumption.
Mme. Mallard, as she was then
known, was but 22 years of age, but she
brought her baby home, nursed him, and
denied herself of the barest necessities
to provide the child with medical atten-
dance. She succeeded in bringing him
back to health. He grew tip passionately
fond of his mother, who, by great ele-
vation, paid for his education in a school
for professional mechanics.
The lad passed his preliminary exam -
elation brilliantly, and then the dread
disease reasserted itself, and all the
mother's strenuous efforts were vain.
The doctors ordered the boy to be taken
out, into the country, and Mine. mallard
went with him to her parents' home in
Alsace. But, her little savings were ex-
hausted, and at last she appealed to the
lad's father to increase the allowance.
M. Jacquet wrote buck that he would not
increase the allowance, but would adopt
the boy into his own family. The Ince
ther then sought the help of the mw to
compel M. Jacquet, to increase the allow-
ance.
THE FATHER'S OFFER.
The father came to the bar of the
court and repeated his offer. "I linve e
family of my own," he said, 'a wife and
three children. My wife has agreed to
take the boy and bring him up with our
own children. I offer the boy a comfort-
able home, and I ask the Court to order
the lad to he given over to my charge."
To this the mother replied that the
boy had never even seen his father, who
did not, attempt to intervene when the
child was ill. "Heaven knows what. 1
have gone through for my son," she
cried to the boy's father. "1 have twice
nursed him back from death. All you
have done is to contribute a small
monthly sum. It would be cruel, in-
deed, to take the lad away from me. MI
1 want is en increased allowance."
The lad iihuself—a bright bit very
thin and consumptive -looking lad of 16—
refused to leave his mother. Placing his
hand In hers, he said; "I love my mo-
ther, and I would ruttier live in poverty
with her than be pampered by my
falhee, for whom 1 have no affeetiont"
The Court reserved its decision.
SENTENCE SERMONS.
Only the hopeful can help.
All:joy were but discord Without et:11'-
10'1'111e cum for our own. cares is care
too
11°,31eheeriss. nothing heroic in a home-
.
nia0dnelyhearegend creed can be embalmed
in phrases.
The secret of being n saint Is being
a saint in secret.
You cannot lift up the people on
whom you look down.
No mon loses any of bis own light
by kindling it In others.
A man's sensitiveness usually is in in-
verse ratio to his service.
They seldom transgress any law who
follow where love letifis.
It's no use looking I15a ri lemon when
you talk of loving your neighbor,
Judged by some standards pickles
might to bo powerful promoters rif
plot y,
The people who ere praying to be no-
thing aro answered before they begirt.
Meet of us would rather clo a lot of
reeulation abroad then preetice a little
righteousness at home.
Many think they are defending -faith
when they are only fighting aping the
necessity of thinking,
It's a wise old world that wails fee
the indorsement of every day honesty
on the checks of extraordinary holiness.
It's no use spending Sunday 'praying
the Lorti to enter ,yeur boort When you
am spending the week barricading it
Willi bad business.
11 lakes a women to' cart,' an a deny
with a man in tt tone that
00501e of a nocldloog,,•
TOY FOR LUNG MENELIK A NEW ISLANDWAS MADE
HUGE LOCOelOTIVE DRAGGED FROM
COAST TO AMUSE 11101
King Went In Stale to Meet Procession,
Butut-
giiNieV5\5V:sislIs Nio)Pt°LthiltgefiderE.
The announcement that all obettieles,
principally political, to the completion
if the ralirond lino from Jibouti, ori the
Red See, 10 Addis Abate, in the Mute of
Aliessfula, have been removed, hos
led 'News le lloux, a Mengel
traveller and writer, to tell the
story of an extraordinary feat that was
performed for the entertainment of King
:Omelet in 1904. This was the transpor-
tation of a locomotive engine from tile
coast to itlenellles capital by human
force. M. le Roux says ho was the only
teuropean present when the barbarian
despot first beheld the great machine.
After the first, plans for the railroad
were accepted by the King, somewhere
about, 1895, there was a long hiatus.
Years passed by and the construction of
the road and the arrival of the "great
steam horse" seemed as far away as
ever. 11 got on Menelik's nerves like a
child's desire for a toy, and he could
think of nettling else.
Then one of his courtiers, one Serkis,
proposed flint he should go to Europe,
buy a locoinotive, and transport, it to
the capital. Tho Negus pointed, out the
forests, the mountains, the rivers that
the machine would have to travense.
Steeds insisted that the chiefs of the
tribes inhabiting the country could and
would furnish all the men necessary. He
staked his head on earryreg out the pro-
ject.
"13E IT SO," SAID MENELIK.
Serkis went to Europe and there fell
in with a Russian engineer officer,
named Babitcheff, whom he sent ahead
to open a temporary route for the 'loco-
motive to follow. Ilabilcheff set all the
energies of the native tribes to worlc,
and for 250 miles a temporary roadway
Was constructed, in which ravines were
spanned, mountains crossed, jungles
teemed, and forest, trees cut down.
"It was on May 18, 1904," soys M. le
Roux, -"that I received a gracious invi-
tation from the Emperor to join the
cortege, which was starting to meet
Serkis. Menelik took the road with all
bios adornments of a pleasure party. I
hove never seen so many horses capari-
soned with silver, mules covered with
splendid saddle cloths, so many silken
hoods and cloaks bordered with purple.
All the functionaries, eager to stand well
with the Emperor, were in the cortege.
"As they were to be four or five days
afield they took fall camp equipage
along. The Emperor alone had 700 to
800 women cooks, ench one riding a
mule and having a soldier to guard her.
MET LOCOMOTIVE.
On the morning of the second day out,
on the borders of Leith leflole, the Em-
peror received news that the locomotive
was nearby. He took his station on a
hilleop facing a ravine, the slope of
which seemed to reach to a level with
tilskS•P
leeeere the big hat of grey felt lined
with green, in which he Is generally
pictured. Everyone else had a smaller
grey hal, unlined. elenelik kept, his
telescope to his eye, watching the crest
of the gorge over which the great toy
was to appear. The moment ler saw Le
Roux, lee exclaimed; "I hope you have
brought your camera. I desire a me-
mento of this meeting."
Le Roux had a small camera slung on
a strop, and he took up a favorable
position for a snapshot. He goes on
"AL last there came to us the confused
chanting of thousands of men. Then
they came trooping down the dusty
track that had been cleared over the
11111. They dragged the engine behnicl
them by cables. Others behind prevent.
eit its too rapid descent. First, of all
come a crowd of slaves carrying two
magnificent elephant saddles, a present
which England sent from India to the
'King of Kings.'"
"Next came two light, open railway
COM. Next came extra wheels and
other parts, curried by porters.- The
men seemed intoxicated with a sort of
religious fervor, as singing, they ap-
proached and
MARCHED PAST THE NEGUS.
"There were thousands of them.
Every province had tarnished its contln-
eent, and when the forced labor of etch
lot was completed many fell in behind
the procession and kept on to the end
of the journey.
"An Ethiopian banner fluttered above
the crowd.. It was fastened to Its body
of the locomotive. When the big ma-
chine appeared at lest at 1110 'swine& of
the gorge a terrific shout rent the nth.
The Emperor stood up, took a slop for-
med and made a gesture of salute:
"1 ."thought it would be bigger," was
ltlthngc4omment when he saw i 1 at closer
i
Bellied the locomotive ennee Peek's,
who fell to his knees at his master's
feet. IL had taken him twenty-eight
days to drag the engine thither from the
conet, at Dit•e-Daona, reaching tin clove -
then of nearly 8,000 feet, above sea level.
Locomotives, unforturintely, have
their caprices es well es despots. Some
weeks lot.er, when tracks were had at
Addis-Abeba, the locomotive refused to
operate. 011 and charcoal were con-
sume,d, In vain. -It evottidn't budge.
It took weeks 01 overhauling before
they got the engine going at teat. By
that Wee Siwalik had lost interest in It.
"I realise," said lice "that wo will 'aee
nothing Serious mill the real railway
reaches here fronl Jibouti,"
PROOF!
"Ne," he declared, "1 wouldn't get
dawn on my knees to talc any girl to
be ray Wife.'
"I don't blame you," sho answet'od,
"It would be ridiculous foe anybody 10
got me hie knees before the girl who
wetttebe your wife
The only Wry to mete 51110 Of, a cletin
heart Is to \Veldt against the
alnutS,
ONCE SAID To JIA'al BEEN THROWN
UF NEAR AtteerSEA•
U. S. lievenue Cultee Visits It, and Greve
11 11(0 Milne Terry Island—
Made a Lareline On II.
The Technical \\theta gives the
bng description of an island said lo have
been card up by an carthqueke near
Alas15a; Early in May Bente fishermen
',relight the news to Dawson City that a.
small island had suddenly arisen from
the ocean.
This new island was "born" on or
about the J8111 of lest April—that fateful
thee so memorable In the history of San
Francisco, first the stranger island
was only a few hundred feel above the
ocean's level, but 11 kept gradually ris-
ing, until 11, is now estimated to be near-
ly 700 feet high.
M it Is comparatively a small island
the sides are very sleep—in places al-
most vertIcal. IL was terrifically hot,—
S011ie of 11 in a sentl-moiten state—andi
naturally the heat made a, vast comm.
lion in the see. POP a long distance In
all directions the waters were heated to
a boiling temperature.
VAST CLOUDS OF STEAM
constantly nrosn from the surface of the
sea, totally obscuring at times the view
of the island.
At first the new island itself sent forth
blinding clouds of smoke and stilling
fumes, so that the fishermen dared not,
approach the rugged and abrupt shores.
These were ise reports that were first
brought down to Dawson City, Credence,
was not at first given to these fisher -
mens stories, but investigations mode
Inter proved beyond all doubt that a new
island had suddenly arisen above the
ocean. That It was a volcanic island—
the outlet to subterranean fires—was
equally true.
Several vessels early visited the newly
created !sinful, but none orf them ven-
tured very near. Moro recently the
U. S. revenue cutter Perry visited the
Island—in fact, has made several visits
and made some casual investigations.
Some photographs were taken by an
officer of the Perry when the island was
still very hot. 11y virtue of being the
first living creature to set fool, on Iles
new-born Island, the officers gave this,
the latest of the Aleutian Islands, the
name of "Perry Island"—
AN APPROPRIATE CIIRISTENING.
Perry Island is now one of the Ragas-
lof group of the Aleutian islands. It Is
situated between leire Island and Castle
Rock Island—both cern:partitively recent.
arrivals nn geologists reckon time. Castle
Rock poked its rugged. nose above the
sea h8-15.
1770. Fire Island's birthday ws.
a
in18
Perry Island is located about 00 miles
west or the town of Unalaska, and
though gradually - cooling, Is probably
one of the hottest places on earth to-
day. However, in spec of the heat and
the fact that the surface of the iStend
was still sell, the allicers the Perry
ventured ashore, and with great diffi-
culty and no little peril one of them
succeeded in climbine almost to thesummit,
summit, nearly 700 feer above sea level.
The new island in shape closely re-
sembles a stupendous beehive, with a
base about DUI feel, in diameter. FrOtti
numerous fissures steam, smoke, and
sulphurous fumes constantly rise in
columns, which continue to form a
aloud that is visible for more than 20
miles.
—4
WHEN YOUR FACE IS A DOT.
Here are a few facts which will help
you to judge distances: Al 30 yards,
assuming that your sight is of the aver-
age sh•ength, the white of a man's eye
is plainly seen, and the eyes themselves
up le 80 yards. At, 100 yards ahl peels
of the body are seen distinctly, slight
movements aro perceptible, and the de
tells of the dress can be distinguished.
AL 200 yards the outlines of the Mee
are contused end rows of butions look
like stripes. At 400 yards the face is e
ir.eeedol, but all movements of the legs
and arms are still distinct. At 60o
yards details can no longer be distingu-
ished. At 800 yards the men in a crowd
(menet be counted, nor their individual
movements distinguished, At 1,000
yards a line of soldiers resembles a
broad belt, At 1,200 yards covalry can
be distinguished from infentry, end al
2,000 yards a mounted man usually ap-
pears a more speck.
.10o.••1
KNEELING DOWN TO DIE,
Though a camel is supposed to have
carried Mohammed in four leaps nom
Jerusalem to Mecca, seven miles an
hour is the latter day centers limit, 11
cannot maintain Res rale for over Iwo
hours either. Its usual speed Is five
miles an hollr—a slow pee beyond
which it is dangerous to urge it, lest, ne
Asiatics say, it might look its hone
and die literally on the spot, 'When A,
easel is pressed beyond this speed, mut
is spent, it kneels down. and hot, all the
wolves of Mia will make It budge again.,
The Camel remains where it icneels, and
where it kneels it dies. A fire uenthe its
nose is useless.
REINDEER EXPRESS,
The capacity of the reindeer for them -
work Is remarkable. His hoofs nre very
broad and do not minarets the snow
crests. Elis average weight is obout,
4001b. 110 will swiftly drew f.1 Sled MI'S/.
ing 600111,, and with nus lend can cover
thirty, arty, and even Mealy reties 0,
day, The reindeer length now (Jerry the
malls from Kotzebue to Point narrow,
Alaslca., a distance of 660 miles --the most
northerly post route in the world, No
food is carded for the deee. At Ilio end
of his journey, or at any stopping -piece,
110 is turned loose, and at once breaks
threogli the show to the white moss
which Serves es food.
ib (Mese% tette long to choose between
01 sinnee.who sworres once in a While
and a saint .35001:05 every one SWCIItt
all the
0.
1 4,