U. S. Seems To Be Land of Husbands

1920

FOREIGN GIRLS INVADING AMERICA BY WHOLESALE.

Feminine Army Hailing From All Nations Waits at New York for Lovers.

NEW YORK, N. Y., Aug. 5. — Brides, pink, nut-brown, olive and rosy, slender, chubby and plump, are anxiously inquiring at Ellis Island these days in a Babel of tongues for the sweethearts they have come so far to capture and break into domestic teamwork.

These modern Penelopes, who have reversed the old story and gone in search of their mates instead of supinely waiting and spinning at home, have adventured to more businesslike purpose than did old meandering Odysseus. They have winged a true course despite all the difficulties of these unsettled times.

They, together with aged relatives of kinsfolk already established here and wives and children coming to rejoin husbands, form a considerable part of the present mounting wave of immigrants, and their eager attractiveness just now is doing much to brighten the Island's grim labyrinth.

They're From All Lands.

There is such a choice and so cosmopolitan a bouquet of young brides at the Island that they deserve a consideration all to themselves, excluding from notice all of the faltering steps beside them of the aged fled from the chaos of Europe to secure haven with their children in America, and the prattlers in everything from Gaelic to Arabic, at last in a land of plentiful bread and milk.

Mary, Kathleen, Mollie, Malaki, Helena, Gastana, Taube, Conception, Mitzi and Germaine, all tender in years, all distractingly pretty, all in sparkling spirits, hailing from seven different countries and speaking seven different languages, clustered together in the New York detention room awaiting the arrival of their sweethearts, formed as inspirational citizen material as the Old World has ever sent us.

Mary, Kathleen and Mollie were Irish girls — home-makers they said — impatient to be away from the Island and at their chosen profession. Mollie Malone, a slender, brown-haired, brown-eyed girl from Dublin, jollied all rhyme and reason out of a would-be serious interview. She volunteered that she was going somewhere west of the Hudson River to marry a Yank whom she had met while he was doughboying overseas.

Draws Paper From Stocking.

Malaki Ayoub, a Syrian girl from Beirut, an exotic moving picture princess without half trying, olive skinned, dimpled, lustrous dark eyes, black hair, of plump, languorous dignity, also comes to marry. The interview with Malaki was limited to a word or so and nods, the interpreter, Nathan Greenberg, master of a sheaf of languages, being unable to understand much of the meat of her speech. Malaki, with naive, near-Eastern frankness, drew an official paper from the National Lisle Bank and verified the spelling of her name.

There was a slight English girl from Manchester among the brides. She refused to tell her name or anything about herself, but did consent to tell the interviewer that he should be heartily ashamed of Ellis Island and its tedious ways. She said that she reached New York on the Aquitania and she thought it a needless delay to be kept from her friends and sweetheart for four days.

Gastana Marchegiana[*] from Abruzzi and Conception Rodriguez from Seville, Spain, were two Southern beauties. Mitzi was a reticent girl from St. Gall, Switzerland, an embroidery worker. Taube (dove translated) Green (also a translation which she has adopted as appropriate to beginning her life in America) was an unusually pretty Polish Jewess, accompanied by her mother. Taube is a seamstress, as eager to enter the field of American business as she is to begin home-making here.

Conditions Bad in Poland.

Taube, who is going to Chicago, gave a discouraging description of conditions in Poland, where, she said, there is much near famine, and already much of the graft that characterizes democratic government. She said that it took four weeks' time and considerable backsheesh for her party to get its passports to leave Poland.

Germaine Dubuc of Bordeaux, France, following two years later in the wake of a California doughboy now established in a Western export house, was the last but not least attractive of the young brides-to-be greeted as they paced expectantly, some fretfully, before the doors of the detention room awaiting their sweethearts to claim them.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 5.

Note: [*] This name is right on the fold and so is hard to read. But it looks like it says Gactana Marchegina, more sure about the first name than the last. Earlier in the article, though, there is a reference to Gastana, certainly this same person. And the last name doesn't Google well, but with Marchegiana there are a lot more. Neither, of course, is necessarily right, but this is what we went with.

America's Unlearned A B C

1895

Our holidays in this country are practically limited to two — the Fourth of July in summer and Christmas day in winter — writes Edward W. Bok in an earnest plea for more rest and recreation for the people of this nation in The Ladies' Home Journal.

While other holidays are more or less generally observed, as conditions make it possible, "the Fourth" and Christmas are essentially the great leisure days of the American people, when every one who can takes a holiday. It is a fact to be deplored that as a nation we have not more holidays that are really observed, but this is because as a people we have yet to learn how to rest.

That we will learn the lesson is unquestionable. Our national health will drive us to it, even if our judgment temporarily halts. The comfort of real living is something of which we in America as yet do not know the simple A B C. Some day we will wake up, cease this everlasting strife for the dollar, be content with what we have rather than reach out for more, take things a little easier, and we shall be a happier and a healthier people, but until we do reach this point we should wisely enjoy the few holidays we choose to recognize.

Which One Is The American?

1920 (Click the picture for larger version)

In the above picture is shown a mother and two sons. The mother and one of her sons have just come over from the old country and have been in this country but a few days. The other son has lived here for five years. Can you tell which one of the sons is an American and which is not? It ought not to require more than one guess!

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Comment: This is an odd item. I think the point of this item is American pride. With immigration being such a big thing in our history, the fact that we "clean up" well would be something to be proud of.

The President on "Our Interests"

1916

The characteristic aberration of Mr. Wilson's mind and his self-complacent disregard of traditional American principles are never more clearly shown than when he discusses American interests and the relationship of them to the interests of the world at large. It is a favorite theme with him, lending itself with facility to that fashion of phrase-making which forms so dominant a part of his public utterances, and in dealing with it he displays not only the self-complacency to which we have already referred, but also a degree of inconsistency which is actually bewildering.

It was only the other day that in a public address at the capital he rang the changes of emphasis upon the proposition that we should never exert the physical force of America for our own interests, but only for the interests of humanity, or for our own only when they were identical with those of humanity at large. He was, of course, entitled to that view of the case as his own. But how presumptuous an error it was to declare that to be the traditional American policy, established by the fathers of the republic, is suggested by simple reference to Washington's Farewell Address, in which Americans are exhorted to adopt and maintain a course of policy under which we may choose peace or war as our interests, guided by justice, shall dictate"!.

Again, speaking of the European War, Mr. Wilson has said that Americans have "no part of interest in the policies which seem to have brought the conflict on." We are not sure that even his epochal "too proud to fight" comment upon the Lusitania massacre was more repugnant to humane feeling. We have, then, no interest in the protection of small nations from oppression and spoliation; no interest in the respecting of neutrality; no interest in the faithful observance of treaty obligations; no interest in the substitution of justice for brute force. Those would be astounding declarations for America to make in the twentieth century! Why, even a pagan comedian twenty centuries ago declared that because he was a man he was interested in everything that concerned humanity. Have we fallen below Terence's code of ethics? We should like to bracket by the side of Mr. Wilson's inhuman disclaimer of interest the studied statement of England's poet-statesman, Wordsworth, that "every independent nation is interested in the maintenance of the national independence of every other country." By the side of such a proposition how sordid appears Mr. Wilson's plea of "no interest"! — The Boston Transcript.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 8.

Helpless China

1916

Mr. Boyce's Talks

Japan has served a new set of demands upon China. Taking advantage of the fact that most of the world is at war, the Japanese have been gradually moving in on their big neighbor, with the object of gaining complete control, at least, if not actually seizing the country.

The latest move follows a fight between Chinese and Japanese in Mongolia. Japan demands that China employ Japanese military advisers for its Manchurian and Mongolian armies, that it employ Japanese military inspectors in its schools, that certain Chinese army officers be punished and that "special interests" of Japan in Mongolia and Manchuria be recognized.

Over a year ago, when it became known that Japan had forced China to yield a number of important concessions, the United States sent a warning to both countries that we would not recognize any agreement between them which impaired American rights in China or endangered the so-called "open door" policy. That warning was too late, but it kept the record straight, so that if the "open door" was closed we could say that we objected.

The "open door" was secured in 1900, when John Hay, our Secretary of State, requested Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan to sign an agreement that the treaty rights of the United States with China would not be affected by new treaties entered into by them, and every one gave such assurance.

Japan will no doubt declare that she has no designs against the "open door" — and will go ahead with her plans just the same. The Japs could say, "What are you going to do about it?" but that would not be polite and would not be necessary, anyway.

The United States has lost out in China, where we had great hopes of building up an extensive trade. Also, we are naturally concerned over Japan's ambitions, because of the Philippines and the Hawaiian Islands. Japan has long sought to get hold of China, with her great area and enormous population, which could be converted into a strong force to aid in ruling the Far East. Poor old China cannot resist the demands of the smaller nation, for she is unprepared to defend herself, and it does not look as if it would do her any good to cry for help.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 6.

U. S. Boxers to Sail for France

1920

Frenchmen who are keen to see their boxers stand up against those from the United States will have further opportunities to do so, for Al Lippe sails Jan. 14 with nine fighters, having arranged terms with Theodore Vinne, French promoter. Jeff Smith, Tom Cower, K. O. Loughlin. Frankie Brown, Eddie Moy, Max Williamson, Johnny Alex, Joe Mendall and Johnny Liggett will make the trip.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Before and After

1910

The young Prince Tsai-Tao, during his visit to America, welcomed criticism of Chinese customs, and retorted politely with counter criticism of the customs of the United States.

The prince, at a fashionable luncheon in New York, sat beside a lady prominent in a rich and rather fast set.

"Prince," said this lady, "I think it's dreadful that in China a bride never sees her husband before the wedding day."

"Well," said the prince, with a grin, "here in America you never see him after it."

Insurance Against Surgical Operations

1902

In England people of moderate means are beginning to insure themselves against surgical operations. The plan is that subscribers who pay an annual fee shall be entitled either to free admittance to a hospital or nursing at home and a free operation or to a fixed sum paid down to defray the cost of an operation if one becomes necessary.

In England, as here, the cost of surgical repairs to the human body has become oppressively great to persons who just manage to pay their way. People who are obviously poor get a great deal of excellent surgical and medical treatment in hospitals and elsewhere for nothing, but for the next class above them a serious illness — especially if it involves an operation — is almost ruinous. It would seem as if the time was near when societies for insurance against specialists might be profitably organized in the larger American cities.

The specialist has come to be a very important — indeed, an indispensable — institution, especially to families in which there are children. The office of the family doctor has now become simplified to the task of coming in and telling the patient which specialist to go to. It is not that specialists charge too much, for their honorable services are above price. It is that landlord, butcher, baker, grocer, milkman, coalman, dentist, and trained nurse do not leave you money enough to pay them appropriately.

To subscribe a considerable sum annually and have all the repairs and desirable improvements made in one's family without further disbursement would be a comparatively simple way out of a troublesome predicament. — Harper's Weekly.

The Self Reliance of Americans

1900

Above all the American is personal. He is responsible to himself. He is ready to declare at any time, "My deeds upon my head."

Some of us go to church. We read in our service books, "From all evil and mischief, from sin, from the crafts and assaults of the devil, good Lord, deliver us." We know that this is only a form of words. We rely upon nothing intangible. We have the words and the habit of repeating them by inheritance. We trip over them while we accept nothing Dei gratia, nor do we shirk our own responsibility in affairs by pleading a special order of Providence.

The child is taught that if he walks into mischief and is caught at it the excuse that he was unduly persuaded into evil doing will not save him from the retributive slipper. The school and college boy and girl pay the piper personally for all unlawful dancing. The man behind the plow, the man behind the counter and the man behind the gun know that results depend. — Self Culture.

Criticism of American Potatoes

1910

"Perhaps better potatoes will be raised in this country some day," said a man from Europe, seated in the Knickerbocker dining room. "At present many dinner menus are arranged without potatoes, In fact they are not highly prized, and I believe it is because the best kinds are not cultivated here. The soil may have something to do with it, but I tell you there is nothing to compare with the 'blue mouse' and the 'red mouse' raised in the Rhine country. There are many others kinds, with the flavor of nuts, mealy, and — well, I am often homesick for them." — New York Herald.


Easy Money at Great Parisian Banks

If you present a letter of credit at one of the great banks of Paris, like the Credit Lyonnais, an usher in livery receives you in a splendid parlor, like the salon of a palace, and bids you be seated in a sumptuous chair. Presently he brings you a check, made out for the amount you demand, for your signature. A quarter of an hour later he brings you the cash on a silver tray. You do not come in contact with the clerical force, or see the inner workings at all.

Billiards An Old Game

1905

The game of billiards may lay claim to great antiquity, for in "Anthony and Cleopatra" Shakespeare makes Cleopatra say: "Let us to billiards;" and so, unless we accuse the great poet of error in chronology, we have traced the game back to a period before the Christian era. In early times a similar game was played on the grass or turf with stones, and later with balls of lignum vitae and other substances.

How to apply the right "twist" or "English" to the cue ball is one of the most interesting and important elements in the art of good playing. In early times only two balls were used, and each player sought simply to pocket the ball of his opponent. The red ball was introduced as a novelty to keep the game from dying out.

As time has gone on the game has had varied development in different countries. In Spain they play with three balls and five wooden pins are set up in the middle of the table. In Russia they play with five balls, two white and a red, blue and yellow one.

The English game is played quite differently from the American and French games. It is a combination of the American games of both pool and billiards, being played on a table having pockets, as in an ordinary pool table, and the points as scored in both the American games being counted.

The French and American games are played with three balls upon a table without pockets and only "canons" or "caroms" are counted. In America the game of billiards has undergone a rapid development on account of the great skill acquired by American players. Early in the last century the game was commonly played with four balls upon a pool table, more or less like the present English game, for both pocketing the balls and making caroms were counted, but in time this style of playing proved so simple that a table was adopted without any pockets in it — and caroms only were counted. — Outing.

An "All-American" Conference

1900

Arrangements are in progress for the assembly at the City of Mexico next year of a general congress of all the independent governments on the American continent. The gathering will be similar to the "Pan-American Conference" which met at Washington in 1889. One result of that conference was the formation of an International Union of American Republics, with a "bureau" of general information. The bureau, which includes in its membership all of the republics, is taking up the preliminary work of the proposed congress. The replies which Secretary Hay has received to his letter suggesting the new conference indicate that all the American republics will be represented.

The conference will have no political aims. It will consider questions of trade, facilities for transportation by rail and sea, banking systems and customs methods, and perhaps it will discuss the feasibility of a permanent tribunal of arbitration to settle disputes among the republics without recourse to war.

There were apprehensions, when the first Pan-American Conference was called, that its usefulness would be impaired by the suspicions and jealousies of some of the governments represented. This did not occur. The new conference should strengthen the ties of common interest among the American republics. If, as is hoped, similar conferences can be held in the future once in two years, or even oftener, at the different capitals, these results may be made permanent. — Youth's Companion.

George Washington's Love Affairs

He Was Not a Success with Ladies, Till He Met the Widow Custis

In a paper recently read by Chauncey M. Depew in New York, at the reception of the Original Society of Colonial Dames of America, the following account is noted of Washington's social life:

Washington was intensely human as he was supremely great. He loved women, he was fond of sport, he was a great hunter, he was the best horseman of his age, he delighted in balls and parties and was a gallant dancer, he traveled hundreds of miles to witness a trial of speed between famous horses, and in common with the universal habit of his time took his chances in the lottery. While never a drunkard or intemperate in any way, he was a free liver and a generous and jovial host. He seems to have been unhappy in his earlier love scrapes. He was 6 feet 2 inches high, straight as an arrow, perfectly formed, except that he had phenomenally large hands and feet, and his face was pockmarked with the smallpox which he caught at the Barbadoes. The Colonial girl flirted recklessly with him, but never seemed to fall in love with him. He writes to one of his correspondents a letter from Lord Fairfax's, in which he says:

"My place of residence is at present at his lordship's, where I might, were my heart disengaged, pass my time very pleasantly, as there is a very agreeable young lady lives in the same house, but as that is only adding fuel to the fire, it makes me the more uneasy, for by often and unavoidably being in company with her revives my former passion for your lowland beauty, whereas were I to live more retired from young women I might in some measure alleviate my sorrows by burying that which is a troublesome passion in the grave of oblivion or eternal forgetfulness, for, as I am very well assured, that is the only antidote or remedy that I shall be relieved by or only recess that can administer any cure or help to me."

Who was this "lowland beauty?" is a mooted question which probably can never be decided. It has been discovered that he paid earnest attention to and his heart was deeply touched by Lucy Grymes, Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy and Alice Fairfax. Of all these he was absorbed in and devoted to Betsy Fauntleroy. He worshiped at her shrine for several years, until a rival carried her off.

Washington was the most industrious of correspondents, and in his letters revealed his most secret passions and desires. But, though we know how tenderly he loved and how long he grieved over the loss of Betsy Fauntleroy, we are still in doubt as to who was the lowland beauty who seemed to take possession of his heart as soon as the charmer of the house was driven or retired from its portals.

Alas for Betsy. She failed to forecast the future, and as the wife of a Virginia planter lived to see her rejected lover become the greatest man of that or any other age. Washington became more popular with the ladies after his return from Braddock's defeat and the massacre. In that battle he had two horses shot under him, and four bullets through his uniform, and had held his Virginia regiment steady when the veteran red-coated British soldiers had all run away. When he returned, the hero of the hour, every Virginia house sent invitations to the gallant young soldier to come and visit. He was here and there, and everywhere, but his heart was mortgaged beyond redemption to the proud beauty who would not smile upon him. One of these letters of welcome to him is from the Fairfax home. Three young ladies in the house party, write him this letter, which shows his new-born popularity from Braddock's bloody field:

"Dear Sir — After thanking heaven for your safe return. I must accuse you of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this night. I do assure you that nothing but our being satisfied that our company would be disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our legs would not carry us to Mount Vernon this night. But if you will not come to us to-morrow morning very early, we shall be at Mount Vernon. Sally Fairfax, Ann Spearing, Elizabeth Dent."

From the home of the Randolphs came another invitation, closing with the message that "Mrs. Cary and Miss Randolph join in wishing you that sort of glory which will most endear you to the fair sex."

In order to settle the question of the regularity of his commission as Colonel, Washington made a journey to Boston. Beverly Robinson, a Virginian, had married Susana Phillips, a daughter of Frederick Phillips, the patron of the great manor by the Croton. Robinson entertained his friend, now famous because of his gallantry at Fort Duquesne, at his house, and induced his wife to have her sister, Mary Phillips, as a guest at the same time. Here Washington's susceptible heart was subject to an entirely different charm from the English ladies in the Barbadoes, or the lovely Virginians of his native state. It was the metropolitan girl — the New Yorker — as typical then as now — self-possessed, traveled, with the experience of several seasons in the society of the largest city of the country, familiar with the attention of British officers and titled fortune hunters, a beauty and an heiress. The type was new to Washington, and he fell madly in love. But the proud and finical New York belle saw too many of the woodsman and the Indian fighter to allure her from the refinements of the metropolis to the seclusion of plantation life, and so she gave her hand and heart to Lieut. Col. Roger Morris, to become, with her Tory husband, during the revolutionary war, a fugitive to England, while Washington, in the fortunes of revolution, made their house his headquarters during the campaign in New York.

Washington, however, two years after the Mary Phillips incident, met at a country house Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis. She was a widow, 26 years of age, and seven months of sorrow. She not only belonged to one of the most distinguished families, but she was the wealthiest woman in the colony of Virginia. Her sorrow was alleviated by the presence of two little angel Custises, Jack and Nellie. Washington wrote to his physician before arriving at this country house in very bad health, that he considered himself a doomed man, and that he was expecting very soon his "decay." This was on March 5, 1758. But the sick man left this hospitable home at Williamsburg on April 1, entirely recovered in health and engaged to the beautiful widow. We know very little of Mrs. Washington except that she was petite, a brunette, very pretty, and could not spell. Washington destroyed all her letters to him on this account. Most of her letters which are in existence were written by Washington and copied by her. But she proved a good wife. She was a born lady and had all the high instincts of a thoroughbred. Jefferson and Madison and Hamilton, who had met her, all seemed to be impressed with her limited educational attainments, and equally impressed with her perfect good breeding. Washington never wandered in his affection for her, and always alluded to her as the partner of all his domestic enjoyments. They lived happily together for forty years. In his last illness he lay for four hours at night with that chill which killed him, because he would not wake his wife and have her get up in the cold. This consideration for her put him almost beyond help when morning came.

He was the most attentive of husbands. Fearing she might overwork herself with the multitude of guests that thronged Mount Vernon, he secured a housekeeper. He saved her the trouble of ordering her own clothes to a large extent. He was a martinet on appearances, and extremely particular, both as to his own clothes and as to hers. White satin and black velvet were his favorite materials for his own coats.

When Washington became General of the army, and the army went into winter quarters this good woman made the long and perilous journeys from her home in Mount Vernon and spent every winter in camp with her husband. At Valley Forge they lived in a hut. She not only looked after him, but presided with grace and dignity at the headquarters table, where his staff and every general officer were welcomed every day. By her kindness and attention to the sick soldiers she did much to prevent the discontent of the army under the great hardships which they endured, and to alleviate the sufferings of the ill and wounded. Both she and the General were passionately fond of dancing, During the war, at winter headquarters, they arranged assemblies on the subscription pattern, the same as those of Delmonico's, Waldorf and Sherry's, and they were called "assemblies." They had especially notable assemblies at Germantown, at Morristown and at Philadelphia. The Washingtons always arranged a winter assembly at Alexandria for the families of the country. Mrs. Washington did not care much for these festivities, but she sacrificed herself because these parties relieved her husband from the tremendous strain to which he was subject both as General of the armies during the revolution and as President of the United States during the formative period of the republic. It was not uncommon for Washington at these assemblies to dance from 10 o'clock until daylight. He was impartial, and tried to secure each lady in the room for a partner.

Paul Jones's Flag, and Dewey's

1899

One of the remarkable features of the reception given to Admiral Dewey at Washington was the display of the flag which John Paul Jones, the first of American naval heroes, is said to have carried on the ship Ranger, when he set sail from the Delaware River to make a name for the infant American navy. This flag is now preserved in the National Museum at Washington.

There is evidence that it was indeed the flag which John Paul Jones flew on the Bon Homme Richard in the famous fight with the Seraphs off Flamborough Head. In that combat the flag was shot away and fell into the sea, whereupon Lieut. James Bayard Stafford jumped overboard, recovered the flag, carried it back to the Richard, and nailed it to the masthead.

It is believed by many, on the supposed authority of John Paul Jones himself, that this was the first American flag, of the pattern now employed, that was ever flown. In a letter of Jones's, which is quoted in his biography by Hamilton, the following passage occurs:

"America has been the country of my fond election from the age of thirteen, when I first saw it. I had the honor to hoist with my own hands the flag of freedom the first time it was displayed on the Delaware, and I have attended it with veneration ever since on the ocean."

This, however, seems to refer only to the first flying of the flag on the Delaware River. This particular flag is of English bunting, two and one-half yards long and a yard wide. It contains twelve stars, arranged in four horizontal lines of three stars each on a field of blue. There are thirteen stripes, alternately red and white.

The flag was made in Philadelphia by the Misses Mary and Sarah Austin, who worked, it is said, under the instruction of General Washington. It was presented to Capt. John Paul Jones, and immediately flown by him. This must have been as late as 1777.

A part of honor was assigned to this venerable flag in the reception to Admiral Dewey and the members of the crew of the Olympia. The space between its unfurling on the Delaware, with its twelve stars, and the triumphant bearing of the Olympia's flag, with its forty-five stars, into Manila Bay, was not a long one, as the history of nations goes, but it was a proud and honorable one.

The later hero of the American navy is no less worthy of honor, surely, than the earliest one, and Paul Jones's flag not only honored the Olympia's in the Washington procession, but was honored by it. — Youth's Companion.

Parisian Lawyers

1901

Their Life Very Different From That of American Attorneys

Lawyers in France, according to a Rochester gentleman, who has just returned from a three years' sojourn in Paris, do not have such an easy time as they do in this country, says the Rochester Union and Advertiser.

There, far from encouraging the bright young men of the land to enter into the legal profession, it would seem that that they are discouraged and every obstacle thrown in their path, the result generally being that it is only a rich man who can be a lawyer.

"Under the regulations at present in force," says this Rochester gentleman, "barristers, after they have kept their terms, and passed a sort of three years' novitiate, during which they have the title of advocate, but have no voice in the deliberations of the council of discipline, and are not inscribed on the rolls, can plead during the three years' probation, but it is a sort of empty privilege in nine cases out of ten."

When an eminent barrister in France employs a junior it is generally some one inscribed on the rolls; should he employ the probationer, the honor thus accorded him must suffice. He does not pay him. But he must live, and here is where the problem comes in, which is usually more easily solved by the American or English young lawyer than it is by his Parisian brother.

In the first place, there is the outlay for his gown, or beretta, which comes close to 80 francs, unless he prefers to hire it at the rate of 10 cents per day. Then he must engage some one to teach him deportment, for this is an essential qualification in this land, where King Etiquette rules with an iron hand. The services of a professor of the conservatory must also be called in to train his voice, unless nature has been kind to him in that respect. But these expenses are mere incidents. He must, above all, not live in small chambers and rent dingy offices. Poverty is a poor key to open the pockets of his clients.

Neatness More Desirable Than Beauty

1908

Writer Makes Good Argument In Favor of Neatness

We all long for beauty, but there is within the grasp of all women something even more desirable than beauty — namely, exquisite neatness.

The writer has descanted on the desirability of neatness more than once, but it is something that will bear to be talked about more than once, or twice, or even a dozen times. "Faith," says Pat, when reproved for lying, "Oi have such a respect for Truth, Oi wud not be dhragging her out on every occashun." The writer differs in this respect from Pat. She has such a respect for neatness that she would be dragging her out on every occasion.

A man who had traveled much and seen many women in many countries, said the other day, "I prefer neatness to beauty. Beauty does not last, while the woman of 80 can still be charmingly neat." By neatness he meant more than simple tidiness. It included style and care and taste and the indefinable art of putting on one's clothes properly.

It is a faculty, alas, that Canadian women do not possess to any extent, says a writer in the Montreal Herald. They doubtless inherit the lack of it from their English ancestors, who are noticeably untidy. The mass of Englishwoman do not seem to know the meaning of the word. Their skirts and belts always separate at the back. Their hair is never beautifully coiffed like the Frenchwoman's, their whole aspect is frowsy to an extreme. Of course, this does not apply to all Englishwomen. There are exceptions to every rule.

On the other hand, the Americans are neat, and hence smart, for it is impossible to be smart without perfect neatness. They have a trim, trig way of wearing their clothes that gives a style to the cheapest ready-made. If you cannot be beautiful you can at least be charmingly neat. And neatness has an attractiveness that mere beauty lacks.

Genuine Wild Horses Discovered

1908

Beasts Prove to Be Distinct Species

New York. — There was little prospect 30 years ago of the discovery of a genuine wild horse. There are, to be sure, the so-called wild horses of the Americas, but they are the descendants of horses that the Spaniards brought to the western world some centuries ago. While evidence existed that wild horses were probably as abundant in prehistoric times in the south of Europe as zebras are today in British East Africa, most naturalists believed that true wild horses with an unbroken line of wild ancestry were extinct.

Then, in 1879, the Russian explorer Prjevalsky reported that he had discovered a new and quite distinct horse in the Gobi desert to the west of Mongolia. Two years later Poliakof published a description of the horse to which he gave the name Equus prjevalskii. Then the brothers Grum-Grjimailo saw the horses in the desert and learned many new facts about them.

The Russians were greatly interested, and it was decided to capture a number of the animals and bring them to Europe. These efforts were successful, and five years ago a herd of about 30 of the Prjevalsky horses, after no end of trouble, were landed in Europe. Most of them are still in Russia, but a few were taken to England, where they are kept on the estate of the duke of Bedford.

The English naturalists did not make a scientific study of the animals in that country because the Russians have had a most thorough investigation in progress, with the advantage that nearly all the captive horses and a number of skeletons are in their hands. Very few of the English naturalists believed that they were true wild horses, but looked upon them either as a kiang, hybrid, the kiang being a species of the ass, or as the offspring of escaped Mongol ponies.

The Russians, however, have settled the question. They have proved by the methods of comparative anatomy and in other ways that the Prjevalsky horse has no relationship with Mongol ponies or the kiang but is a valid and distinct species of the genus horse, without relationship to the ass, though it has some features that remind one of the Asiatic ass; but even in these features, as the tail, for example, the resemblance is closer to the horse than to the ass.

The results of the investigation were, prepared for publication by Dr. W. Salensky, director of the Zoological museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. The book has just been translated into English and published in London under the title "Prjevalsky's Horse."

It contains a number of pictures of the captives, one of which is reproduced here. The frontispiece shows a three-year-old stallion and a two-year-old mare which are the property of the czar.

The animals were mere colts when they arrived in Europe and were not prepossessing, for they did not take kindly to the novel conditions, were out of condition and had ragged coats and awkward gaits. They have now reached maturity, have been well cared for and are good looking animals.

Many naturalists have held the opinion that the domestic horse of today was mainly derived from three wild species, which have been named the steppe, forest and plateau varieties. The Prjevalsky horse is a representative of the steppe variety.

The Mongolians have made many attempts to tame the wild horse, but in vain. All efforts to tame the animals that have been brought to Europe have also failed. Thus far the horse will not submit to man, is afraid of him, and cannot be rendered serviceable. Though now accustomed to the sight of human beings, the captives are very badly frightened if a person approaches nearer than within two or three rods of them.

Still some facts are known which indicate that there is hope that those horses may eventually be tamed. The explorer Koslov about 40 years ago saw a colt of six months belonging to a chief in the Gobi that had been so far tamed as to walk peaceably in a bridle. It would permit itself to be led up a stairway to the floor above, and even allowed the seven-year-old son of the chief to sit on its back.

It is practically impossible to capture adult animals on their native plains. The Russians followed the comparatively simple Mongolian method of getting possession of some of the horses.

From time to time they could see from afar that young colts had been added to the herd within a day or two. They thereupon pursued the herd of horses until the colts became so exhausted that they could travel no further and then it was easy to capture them.

Great Irishman To Visit United States

1908

Sir Anthony MacDonnell Coming To America

New York. — Sir Anthony Patrick McDonnell, permanent under secretary for Ireland, is on his way to the United States, but just what his mission to this country is, is known only to himself. It is safe to conjecture, however, that it is to explain to the Irish leaders on this side of the water why he has failed to get Ireland home rule and a land act that would turn the property of the land owners over to the peasantry. These were the aims he had in view when he entered his present position under Mr. Wyndham.

Not only was he a staunch Roman Catholic and home ruler, but an intense radical as well, and the conservatives writhed in horror at the idea of their leaders making MacDonnell virtual dictator of Ireland. For Mr. Wyndham was not a strong man, while Sir Anthony is strength personified. He had learned in India how to take the land from the big land holders and return it to the people. Before accepting the office he stated his views to Mr. Wyndham and insisted upon a written pledge that he should have a free hand. Immediately he set to work to make himself solid with the Irish people. He won the support of the clergy, he manipulated the police in a way that won him the affection of the people who regard the police as their natural enemies, and he traveled the whole length of Ireland to plead with rapacious landlords not to evict helpless tenants.

It was not long, however, before the tories of the old school raised a howl against the unlimited power given to Sir Anthony, and Mr. Wyndham had to drop out after the reading of the agreement in parliament. This made no difference to Sir Anthony, for he remained in his office under Mr. Long, who succeeded Wyndham, and was as much of a power as ever. The party papers denounced the under secretary and all his works, but the government still retained him. It found itself in the position of the man who had a bear by the tail — he couldn't hold on and he dare not let go.

When the Balfour government was defeated Sir Anthony remained as the adviser of the liberal government. Mr. Bryce became his chief and at the same time his tool. Mr. Bryce was no more successful than either of his predecessors, for the Sinn Fein movement, which sought to separate Ireland by strictly legal means, had grown up and was working at cross purposes with Sir Anthony. Prof. Bryce gave up and Mr. Birrell took his place. Sir Anthony advised the "devolution" bill, which the Irish people, investigated by the Sinn Fein, refused to accept. Nor were his land measures more popular, and Mr. Birrell came to the conclusion that Sir Anthony was the champion of a lost cause. It came to a test of will power between a dour Scotchman and an obstinate Irishman, and the former seems to have prevailed. Hence Sir Anthony's trip to America.

Sir Anthony entered the Indian civil service as a young man. He rose to the very highest position in the service, lieutenant governor of Bengal, and subsequently governor of the northwest provinces. He did much to reform the land tenure of Bengal. It was his dearest wish to do even more for his native land, and this is why, after retiring on a pension, he accepted the under secretaryship for Ireland.

What's Wrong, Lassie? Rover's In The Well?

1910

Dog's Remarkable Intelligence

Thomas Jones, who owns a big ranch on San Juan island, lost a collie dog last fall for nearly a month, and for several days searched the woods about his place zealously for the animal, without success. One day he tossed a bone to another collie. Instead of gnawing it, he picked it up and started for the woods. He kept turning his head, apparently to see if he was followed, and Jones concluded to follow him.

The dog trotted along for about a mile and stopped at the edge of an abandoned well. He dropped the bone over the edge of the well. Jones got a ladder, climbed down and found the dog that had been lost. There was only about two inches of water in the well, but the animal would have starved to death had it not been for the other. The lost dog was in good condition, and as it had been missing 24 days the other animal must have kept it supplied with food for nearly a month.


The Rule of the Road

There appears to be no definite record explaining the prevailing custom of turning our vehicles to the right in this country. One authority says that it grew out of the fact that in our early colonial days, before the arrival of rigs for pleasure driving, the drivers of heavy vehicles used in transportation fell into the way of turning to the right.

The English custom of turning to the left is an ancient one. It obtains in practically all of the British provinces.

A grizzled driver in Bermuda, asked once why all drivers turned to the left, explained that it was done so they could see just how much room they had.


Strength of Locomotive

A railway engine may roughly be said to equal in strength 900 horses.

Both the Native-Born and Immigrant Have Duties to America

1920

By Senator W. S. Kenyon of Iowa

The alien cannot Americanize himself. He can never become assimilated if he is shunted off into a shanty town. He cannot be Americanized with a club. There is more hope in a handshake than in profit-sharing.

There is a growing need for America to Americanize itself; for each individual to stop shifting the blame onto others and depending on some one else to put our house in order. The immigrant has his duty to America and he must be made to discharge it. The native-born has his duty and he must search his own heart to see if there are any roots of the trouble there. If we could only control our greed, our avarice, our quick prejudice and passion and pull together for the general welfare of our country, what a nation this would be! America means more than stocks and bonds, and churches and schools and farms and stores. It means a great ideal of justice for all men. A man who cannot be just whether with his employee or with his employer is not a true American.

The ship of state is sailing through pretty troublesome seas, but it is a mighty sturdy old ship. It will weather the storm. It will pull through every crisis. It is a time for aroused conscience and determination of all our people to enthrone justice in their own hearts and then do what they can to assist others. We are engaged now in much talk of helping the world. We can help it by giving to the world a high example of justice and fraternity, and in so doing many of our industrial problems will be solved.