Cost of Running a Yacht.
Mr. Aator'a JVlontlily Kill for the Nourmahal itx Summer;
.rroDaniy iouta Up 25,000.
' By Rene Bache,
I HE cost of running a steam yacht necessarily varies
A sixty-footer may be kept in commission for $300 a . .' not
-counting foo'd .supplies. For. a 150.-footer the montlu., expense
would be $3,000 perhaps. But whGn it comes to a pleasure craft
like Pierpont Morgan's Corsair, 304 feet on the water line, or
John Jacob Astor's Nourmahal, which is even bigger, the outlay
is enormously greater. It costs about $20,000 a month' to run the
Corsair, and it is probable that Mr. Astor's bills for the Nourmahal in the
summer time" amount tQ not less than $25,000 every thirty days. The pay roll
of the officers and crew of such a vessel, which is a good-sized steamship,
will touch $4,500 or possibly $5,000 a month.
A first-class steam yacht carries a crew of fifty or more men. The Aphro
dite, owned by Col. Oliver H. Payne, requires sixty-two. There must be three
cooks, a steward, two assistant stewards and six or seven men who serve as
"chambermaids" and waiters. The Nourmahal also has a couple of stew
ardesses, for the convenience of lady guests on board. Thirty sailors draw pay
at the rate of $30 a month: the captain gets $200 a month Howard Could
pays his captain $5,000 a 3rear and two mates are employed at $75 and $50,
respectively. The chief engineer draws $123, the assistant engineer $100 and
an oiler $50 a month. To these must be added four firemen at $40 a month
and four stokers at the same wages. Of course the chief cook is likely to
be a French chef, at $400 or $500 a month.
Such a boat consumes twenty tons of coal a day, and at that rato. if she
is kept going five months in the year, she will burn up something like 3.000
tons, the item of fuel alone coming to $10,000 for the season. For the rest of
the year she is laid up in a basin, at an expense of $200 a month, and the clean
ing and painting she has to undergo cost a pretty penny. It takes two weeks
and an expenditure of $1,000 to lay her up, and a couple of months and $5,000
to put her into commission again.
From these figures it is easy to understand where the money goes for s
eteam yacht, though it should be realized that bills for food supplies (not reck
onedjn the above account) are simply huge, especially w ion much eatertaininp
is done. Anybody would be interested to know what it cost Cornelius Vander
biit, on his recent trip abroad, to entertain Emperor William on board hi.s
yacht, and to meet on an appropriately sumptuous scale certain other social
obligations which were imposed upon him by his intimacy with the great one?
of the earth. Very possibly he did not get off for less than $100,000 for a few
weeks' amusement.
Not a few rich men nowadays prefer sailing yachts, because of the su
perior accommodations which, they afford. There is more comfort to be had
they assert, in a 100-foot schooner than in a 200-foot steam yacht. Such a
schooner costs only about $30,000, and has a crew of twenty-five, with eighteen
before the mast. Whereas a steam yacht is largely occupied by machinery an''
coal, which take up nearly the whole of the middle portion of the vessel, in a
schooner the entire body of the craft is available for living purposes. Even 8
sloop, sixty or seventy feet long, and costing $18,000, perhaps, will carry s4
or eight cabin passengers very cozily. Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post
HOSPITABLE PERSIA.'
T
Improve the Cow.
Great Profit for Dairymen to be Won. by Ir tellisent
Breeding.
By Hark Comstoclc
HE 18,000,000 milch cows of this country find their ' bduct virtually
consumed at home, leaving little for exportation. Tet few dairy
farmers get rich. Perhaps it is upon the principle that few in
any given business get rich. "
All agricultural profit in these days comes of using improved
methods and machinery. The farmer' who still mowed his
mnarinw land with a sevthe would be left far behind in the com
petition of these days. The cow is the first item, and a most important one in
dairy machinery. At the average she is a good deal what she was hlty to a
liuadred years ago, as far as relates to her dairy functions. In beef producing
quiity the case is entirely different.
According to the statistics of the Department of Agriculture the average
dairy cow of the country, gives 130 pounds of butter per year. In the dairy
demonstration now progressing on the world's fair grounds at St. Louis the
en-tire Jersey team of twenty-five cows has averaged more than that per head
in sixty days. Admitting that better care and better feed have to do with the
question, there yet remains a very wide margin that can only be credited to the
functional capacity of the cows bred in their bone. When farmers began
to select their bulls from thoroughbred herds possessing these great dairy
values, letting the beef question and all side issues take care of themselves,
they began to establish improved machinery in the shape of dairy cows.
Nriv 12 000.000 cows are devoted to butter making in the United States,
and the product in round numbers is 1,500,000,000- pounds of butter, worth, at
IS cents a pound, $270,000,000. Suppose that each of these cows could produce
a heifer calf by a high class Jersey bull, and the improvement in butter capa
city for the new generation was even as little as 5 per cent., which would be
an exceedingly small estimate; the increased butter output for a single year,
assuming that the price was not lowered, 'would be worth $13,500,000 a net
profit over present income due solely to the use of improved cow machinery.
Only in recent years has the disparity in value between the product or
different individual cows been brought home to the comprehension of the
average farmer and dairyman. Butter fat is the most valuable constituent
of milk, whether it be made into butter or used otherwise. The creameries buy
milk by its test of fat, allowing nothing for the skimmed remnant. Quarts no
longer "measure at the creameries and factories. They merely float the pounds
of fat for which the dairy farmer is paid. The change to this plan was an
eye-opener to him. He quickly found that his heaviest milker was not neces
sarily his most profitable cow. A machine for quickly determining the. per
centage of fat in milk is now used everywhere. The dairy farmer has found
out where the money is and is beginning to look for a different cow from that
which formerly excited his admiration.
The great step now in the improvement of the dairy business is the dis
tribution of the bulls from the thoroughbred herds of Jersey, Guernsey, Hol
stein. Brown, Swiss and Ayrshire cattle throughout the dairy districts, as the
beef raisers have been taking them from thoroughbred Short Horn, Hereford
and Polled Angus herds to the grazing districts. New York Sun.
yhere Nerves Are Unknown
Happy Japanese Women are Free From Worries of
Western Civilisation.
By Robert Webster Jones.
HE women of Japan, in contrast to their Occidental sistet M have
inn? hpen noted for their perfect poise and self-possession. Their
tl placidity under what would ordinarily be considered trying cir-
CUmStliUCcS UaE BUHJii.icu auiciiv.au iui "ow. ""v v.-...
guaranteed to cure nervousness in its many forms have little
sale in Japan. The meaning of the term "nervous prostration"
i unknown. .Tananese physicians are rarely rich.
An explanation of this happy state of affairs has been made by a returned
traveler. "To begin with," says he. "there is never any change in fashions,
so the Japanese woman has no worries at all on that score. Then, house
keeping is greatlv simplified, so the Japanese housekeeper is hurt by none
of the jars and frets that rag the nerves and prematurely age her Western
sister The Japanese house has no draperies, no dust traps in the shape of
c'nprflrmK ornaments. People all put off their shoes on entering the heuse,
so no mud and dirt are brought in. Japanese women have no heart-burnings
over euchre prizes and 'bridge' stakes. They never have to compose club
S1L
some
their
daughters to rich foreigners. They never nave 10 give eignt-course dinners
with two-course pocketbooks. They live simple, happy, peaceful, domestic
ts .- .1 III-1 1 ! 1 r, r-i- 1 i m ' ' ' '
nanws oa subjects concerning wmcn uiey kuuw Huuimg. nmy utivur
11 u nl-hts planning how they might outshine their rivals in dres3 at
XM,tralr- Thov do, not bother their brains with schemes for marrying
While WO Should be SOrry CO St'U nmnitnu num-u iwuiu iucu iies LU
the narrow inhere of the Japanese, there is no doubt that three-fourths of
then- nervous worrv is caused by -trying to do too much." Simplicity is the
f .itv and health, and American men as well as women may well
profit by the example of the happy Japanese
1 The 22-ton bell at the Sacre Coour
Church in Paris is tolled by electri
city. A single choir boy can do (he
Tt-fik which foiMKTiy t: five men.
a 1 , 'I I'tudr mai is usua m me
manufacture of ieai pencils is found
in large tracts in Colombia, near the pr
Venezuelan border. pl
4
1
J How That Blodern , L.nd Reratnda Ok
of the Spiritual Persia.
"Persia," said the Hon. Richmond.
Pearson, of North Carolina, the
urbane gentleman who represents the
United States Government in that
ancient land, to a reporter at the Wil-
larcl, "Is a couutry that makes one
frequently refer to the Old Testament,
for the manners and customs of it
people savor greatly of those ancient
tribes of' whose doings the sacred
chronicles tell.
'In Persia they are pursuing, the
same tasks in the same way that has
teen in vogue for centuries, and out
side of the cities not a trace of modern
civilization can bo seen. As a rule,
life goes on very evenly over there,
and hardly a ripple of excitement
breaks Its monotony, except for some
such incident as the killing of Dr.'
Labarre, the American missionary who
was assassinated by a band of fanatics
last March. The sequel, to that crime
the Post has told how the principal
criminal, claiming to be a descendant
of Mohammed, was caught after con
siderable trouble and put in jail, where
he now lies awaiting punishment. I
may say here that I was given im
mense assistance in the capture of tbia
murderer by Dr. Wishard, a. former
resident of Indiana, who is in charge
of the American hospital at Teheran.
"The Persians are the most polite
people and the greatest sticklers for
form and etiquette in the world. In
making the journey from the seacoast
to the capital, they showered atten
tions and ceremonies on me that were
almost ' crushing in their ' civility.
Through every province I passed there
was a repetition of these forms of
welcoming salutes were fired in my
honor, castles were put at my disposal
and gifts were coming in all the time.
One of these donations was a bleating
lamb the disposition of which was a
problem. I didn't want it as a pet;
I couldn't have killed it for a good
deal, and so I had to' carry it along
till , the end of my journey. E-ut, all
the same, Persia is an interesting
country, and I am not at all sorry to
return to it." Washington Post.
WORDS OF WISDOM.
God's presence makes a desert a
garden of paradise.
A swindle can not be sanctioned by
calling it a church fair.
A tailor made man will satisfy a
trinket hearted woman.
The least prayer that Teaches God's
throne shakes His footstool.
When angels sing they do not have
to wait for cultivated cars.
Fear may force a man to cast beyond,
the, moon. John Hey wood.
Nothing is more impractical than
the neglect of the spiritual.
When you find one sharp as a nee
dle he is all eye and no head.
Truth is the highest thing that man
may keep. Geoffrey Chaucer.
The old hope rises, that, this sorrow,
which at this hour seems more than
I can bear, may dwell with me al
ways as greatness from which my
life may take its tone. Ellen Watson.
Tossibly want and woe will -be seen
hereafter, when this world of appear
ance shall have passed away, to have
been, not evils, but God's blessed an
gels and ministers of His most pater
nal love. F. W. Robertson.
Farm Lands in England.
The English press mentions indica
tions of great shrinkage in farm lauds
of that country generally. It is said
that in Lincolnshire farms have de
creased in value nearly one-half, that
a farm of C15 acres held at .$75,000 had
been offered for $20,000; that another
large farm would not bring more than
50 per cent, of its cost, and another
Which sold three years ago at $110,
000 was appraised for probate at only
$34,000.
Just the reverse of these conditions
have occurred during the , past few
years in the United States. Many
farms have doubled in value.. and the
average advauce is CO to 40 per cent,
here. Perhaps this more nearly equali
zation of farm value abroad and here
is largely due to the lowering of inter
nal and export freights, and to the in
creased invasion of the British mar
kets by American farm products. It is
said that English land owners are feel
ing the squeeze seriously. If it re
sults in the dividing up of large estates
and placing the land in the hands of
men of moderate means to farm, it
may result in leveling up the middle
classes and in great benefit to the Eng
lish nation.
CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT.
L
Makes Pets of Humming Birds.
Mrs. Warren Willard of Putney,
Vt., feeds humming birds daily from
the time they arrive in the spring
until the approaching cold drives
them south. She places a syrup made
of melted sugar upon the piazza and
the birds come regularly from the
woods to get the food. When she be
gan the practice years ago there were
but two birds, but the number has
gradually increased to twelve.
ctwr milk is thf latest remedy ior
roloimng life, but no one wants to
rolong it in that way. -
BABY'S SAND PILE.
In a grea-t hig.wooden .box,
Nice and smooth, to save her frocks,
'Is the baby's sand-pile, where all day she
plays;
And the things she thinks she makes,
Irom a house and bam to cakes,-
Would keep, I think, her family ail their
days.
Once she said she'd make a pie
Or, at least, she'd like to try
So up she straightway rolled . each tiny
sleeve :
For her plums she used some stones,
Made a fire of cedar cones
.Not a real fire, you know, but make-believe.
v
Next she baked some buns and, bread,
"For her dollies," so she said,
'Cause, you see, they like ray cookinjr
best of all;"
Though her flour was only sand,
Dolls, she knew, would understand,
And excuse her. if her batch of dough
should fall.- -,
Sometimes cook will miss a pan,
' Or a bowl, or snoon. or ran:
But. I think she's very sure where they'll
dp iouna; -For
she knows it's just such things
Baby uses when she brinzs
All her dollies to her sand-pile on the
ground.
. F. C. M., in St. Nicholas.
'A FUNNEL FOUNTAIN.
I never knew a boywho did .not love
to fuss with water or to watch a foun
tain play. Now here is a sort of foun
tain and pump combined which is so
simple that it would be a pity if any
Jtoy should be deprived through ignor-
ance of the pleasure of seeing it
work. ,
The apparatus needed is only a com
mon tin funnel, the bigger the better.
you might try it in the bathroom or
the laundry, if you remember that it
is neither necessary nor ' desirable to
force the jet quite to the ceiling, nor
yet to make it shoot across the room,
. " . t
A TASK FOIl NIMBLE FINGERS..
Here is a bridge, and a pretty strong
one, considering its material, which
is mde of matches without using
rivets, glue, string or any other aaten--ing
except friction.
It is quite a trick to put it together,,
and the bridge builder must have pa
tience and a steady hand, but the re
sult is worth a little trouble. Jf you
go about it In a haphazard, hit or miss
fashion, even, with the aid of the illus
tration, you will be pretty Bare to
fail, and will soon vote the wbolo
COMPLKTED MATCH URTDO?1.
.thing, stupid and give , it vUp, but thY)
task is not so very difficult if you soLl
to work in the right way.
Lay a match on the tabic, and upon
it, near the ends, lay the heads of
two other matches, the other ends of
which rest on the table. ! These two
matches . must ie at right angles to
the one first mentioned. They are the
ones which, start from the grouud at
PICTURE PUZZLE
At
WHERE IS HER YOUNG LOVER?
Brooklyn
n EagleXl
If is worked by plunging it, with the
mouth down, in a bathtub or washtub
half full of water. If you press the
funnel down rapidly and forcibly the
water under it, not being able to get
tut of the way quickly enough, will
be pressed np into the funnel, and,
because of the tapering form of the
latter, a jet of water will be forced out
of the small end of the funnel and
will rise to a height that will surprise
you. With a funnel which has a wide
mouth and a small tube you can make
a fountain ten feet high.
Of course, you understand that the
fountain does not play all the time,
1 Lmmi
MAEIKG THE FOUNTAIN TIAY.
but that a j?t shoots up each time you
force the funnel down.
You see, also, that this i. not a parlor
entertainment. The trick should be
done out of doors if possible. If not,
the near end of the bridge ia the pic
ture, and the match on which theirr
heads rest is the second crnsa piece.
Now, across these two parallel
matches lay a fourth match the first
cross-piece in the picture.
Next, lift up the match you laid
down first, raising the others with it,,
and slip two' more matches under it
and over the one yotr laid down last
(the first cross piece in the picture).
Lay the heads of these last two
matches on another (the fourth cross
piece), and across them lay ''still an
other (the third cross piece). Now;
you have two links of the bridge done.
Lift up the cross piece, slip in turn
more matches under it' and lay over
the third, add the next pair of cross
pieces and go on in this way, link by)
link, until you have five or six links,
Avhich will make a strong bridge of
graceful shape. More than this makes
the arch too high, less ; makes it too
flat. -
The matches should be long, stronff
and either square or quite rough, V-
that they will neither roll nor slip. . jw
-as in an su.cn tricks, it i3 advisable 1
to use safely matches and "to handle,
them carefully. .
It is still better to use burnt maichW
if you can get them long enough aiM
of equal length. Toothpicks or any
other little sticks of uniform length
and thickness may be used instead of.
matches.
The .Swiss Alpine Club has' within
the last four years spent $24,000 in
buildiug refuge huts on various moun
Old Calabar, the headquarters of the
Southern Nigeria Covernraenr, has
just been Connected by telegraph witU
England,