20 PAGES. f j
MEWS
Section Two Eight Pages.
. 4-I"M"I"M"I"I"I"I"t"I"H- -W-
20 PAGES.
oecnon i wo tignt Pages.
THE ONLY EVENING ASSOCIATED PrlE&S NEWSPAPER IN CHARLOTTE.
VOL. XXXV NO. 6405
DAUGHTERS OF
THE TENEMENTS
The Uneducated Working Girl of the
Foreign Stock Usually Marries Ear
ly she Lacks the Training Needed
by a Wife and Mother, Being Unable
to Cook or Sew Public Schools
Should Teach Elements of House
keeping The Dangers of Irreligion
and Atheism.
BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
(Copyright 1905 by Joseph B. Bowles)
A Russian girl, speaking very im
perfect English and acting as maid of
all work in an American kitchen, the
other day notified her employer that
in a twelvemonth she must return to
net- home and be married.
I so to my man," she said. "He
cannot come over the sea for me."
The mistress tried to persuade her
that she was better off here than she
had been in Russia, that she was learn
ing so much and so fast, that she
would soon ba earning larger wages,
and ended by asking her if she was
s ure the man she loved would be faith
lul to her until her return.
He vait for me one year," said the
airl, her cheeks flushing and her eyes
Thining. "I not expect him to wait '
longer. I might grow to old." She was
bare'iv 19, and 0 appeared to her as
the first milestone to old age, "I grow
too Old."
Early marriages are the rule mong
the pretty Swedes, Finns and Danes,
v, ho seek this country as a place where
they may earn their living. The Irish
who once formed a staple of the do
mestic force are now far less in evi
dence here, naving taiven as a ciass to
ether grades of work. They imitate
Americans in preferring to keep their
independence through a longer girl
hood, and to marry and settle a little
later in life. Among them it is not
uncommon to find a somewhat elderly
maiden marrying a man several years
her junior. She has a goodly sum in
the bank, and he has no objection to
a wife who has a nice deposit to her
credit. While among the educated and
the wealthier classes it is now quite
customary to defer marriage until the
bride has passed her twenty-fifth birth
dav, those working girls who are re
cruiting rom the ranks of the poor
and comparatively untaught, are not
averse to entering on wedlock between
IT to 20. These early marriages are
not always an advantage to the con
rvr.Hn nartias. The prettiness inci
dental to youth fades Quickly and the
very voting wife soon becomes a moth
er " She is likely to be the mother
of a large family, the leaner the purse
the greater number of children being
the usual rule.
Unfortunately the daughter of the
tenement has seldom had any real
training for her profesison of wife
and mother. She does not know how
tq cook or how to sew. Of making and
mending she is equally ignorant. She
cannot economize because she has no
experience in trying to get the best
v'aluA from a dollar. There are happy
marriages not a few in this class, but
there are many that do not turn out
so well as they might, owing largely to
the unfitness of the wife for the posi
tion she holds as manager of the
nThere would be less drinking and
more thrift among the working men
if their homes were clean and their
food wall cooked. Men are often driv
en to the saloon not so much because
they care for drink, but because they
want Rood fellowship, some one to
talk with and the cheerfulness that
soothes a man at the close of a work
ing day. At home where there is dirt
and disorder, where the fe BJat
tevnly, when the children squabble the
man seizes his hat and gets out of the
chaos into the company of mten like
himself, who over the social glass talk
politics and make t-Mngs agreeable
This is not excusable, and I am far
from offering an apology f or the sa
loon or the men who Sequent it, tout
if the workingman's home were clean
and peasant, and the workmgmana
wife were intelligent and efficient, the
home would make a fce"er
against the brightly lighted saloon on
the corner.
Shall w
try
to persuade our factory S1. our
hard-working shop girls, ..f
would better not marry until they are
-older, wiser and better prepar ed for
responsibility? Their answer won d
be that they do not want to be old
maids, that their mothers married ear
lv, and that they want to be settled.
In some places, and P"
luctory towns, they continue their work
sftpr mnrriaee. so that the settlement
is a mere figment of the .f'f"0
If there be a remedy, it must begin
its work in childhood, and it wou d
he an improvement were the j?ubhc
school to drop a part of its very elab
orate curriculum and teach the ele
ments of housekeeping to litUe
girls. They could to advantage get on
without some of the numerous fed,
and frills which at present belon. to
the public schoools system weann
ot the teachers and doing 1S
to the scholars. Some part of the
manual training and some part ot the
mnsii and zoology and botany could
The omitted and nobody would I -Jethe
vovse. The children should be taught
cooking, about setting the tables, about
darning stockings and patch ng trous
ers. and saving pennies and peeping
.their homes bright and .clean TMs
may sound a bit Uptoplan,' revert
less, the public schools are places
where, in the too brief season of J
working girl's childhood, her initiative
in housewifery should begin.
The working girl who is early to
marry needs likewise something oe
yorl tuition in domestic ecffljaW- She
needs to be taugnt noww -
temper and impulses, how to read tne
daily papers and know what is going
on in the worlds how to be an interest
ing companion for a man who is out
among his fellows, and taking in new
'f- neeas to be impressed with
the sincerest and most unaffected ideas
that religion can bring to her. Until
and unless the wives and mothers of
the poor and struggling are pious, un
til and unless they believe
trust him and so give to their home
the outlook toward heaven, which turns
home from a mere shelter to a Para
dise, the men and boys wil be in peril
of drifting away toward the most dan
gerous socialistic theories. The prac
tices of anarchy are the direct outcome
of irreligion an atheism. The crying
want of our hard-working people,
both men and women, especially when
they are young, is a hold upon God.
They are largely indifferent to the
church and are driftine into infidelitv.
If the church, the Sunday school
and the great world of Christian peo
ple let go their grasp of and influence
with our working girls, there is little
hope that the children of the future
thus mothered by those who are ig
norant of God will not be degenerates.
For the sake of our country, in the
name of patriotism and the future,
we must retain a hold upon, the work
ing girl and save her from becoming
her life long a foe to all that is good.
A deep responsibility lies upon all
who forecast the coming years. Ev
erything first and last focussed in
the home. We shall continue to have
great conflicts between capital and
labor, we shall continue to have con
fusion where there ought to be har
mony and sj-mpathy, until we elevate
the standard of intelligence and good
ness in our younger working people.
Their early marriages would be no
misfortune, but a blessing if they were
but themselves better prepared in char
acter for the duties of married life.
A Popular Medical College.
The Medical College of Virginia
whose advertisement appears in anoth
er column of this paper has for years
been a most popular educational insti
tution among North Carolinians. Many
of the most brilliant medical practi
tioners of this state claim the Medical
College of Virginia as their alma ma
ter. An examination of the school's
records show that North Carolina has
furnished it more students than any
other state except Virginia.
The State Board of Medical Examin
ers of North Carolina is the oldest,
and generally considered one of the
most difficult state boards in the Unit
ed States, yet during the thirty years
of its existence it has recorded only
six failures of the alumni of this col
lesre. This is a high tribute to the
thoroughness of the methods of this
institution and one that should have
the careful consideration of the stu
dents. ' '
This college is a state Institution,
owned and controlled by the state
and affords many important advan
tages to the student that cannot be ob
tained at schools conducted for com
mercial reasons. Among these is the
exclusive privilege of clinical teacn
ing in the Memorial Hospital, one of
the most modern and, best equipped
hospitals in America. The staff of
this hospital for both private and clin
ical cases is selected from, the facul
tv of the Medical College of Virginia.
This hospital is open for the treatment
of all classes of diseases, except chron
ic and contagious, and the reception of
absteterical cases, affording the stu
dent p broad field for observation. Be
sides these valuable privileges which
are open only to students of this
school they also have equal rights in
the other general hospitals of Rich
mond. The fact that this college has
for the oast four years been president
of the Southern Medical College As
sociation, which is composed of the
most prominent medical colleges of the
South and promulgates the laws gov
erning the best institutions of this
section, is most convincing proof of its
Irish standing. It is a school that ev
ery ambitious student should be fully
informed about and information may
be had for the asking.
Would Libel Motor Cars.
rrom Truth. '
Having had plenty of experience of
the disadvantages of barren judg
ments I can deply sympathize with
those who get such judgments
P-ainst motorists. One way in which
the effects of a judgment may be de
leated is by the defendant being ren
niless. Such a one may have hired a
motor for a day. Other methods well
known to lawyers are debenture poli
cies, bills of sale, and, above all, the
cer blessed creation of chancery, the
marriage settlement. Now there is
an exception to this law of judgment
being against the person. In case of
ships the ship is primarily ; liable tor
the accident. This is called an ac-
tion in rem. similarly, m me
of moters I would make the vehicle
itself liable for the amount of a judg
ment as well as the owner or hirer.
n other words, a debenture policy,
bill of sale, or marriage settlement
would not avail, nor would the owner
of a car be able to dispose of it or
use it until the judgment was satis
fied unless sufficient security had
been given to the satisfaction of the
court.
RE-ORGANIZE RUSSIAN BANK.
Imperial State Institution Will be Con
- .rl.- Joint Stock Organization.
St. Petersburg, Aug. 25. It is Report
ed that a plan for converting the Rus
sian Imperial State Bank into a joint
stock bank modeled after the Bank
of France has been decided upon, it
is taid that there will be a committee
of control wmcn wm iuLiuu..-r.-v-
otio tho houses in France which
will help it to float the Russian loans
of the Mendelsohns in Berlin and of
the Rothschild interests. -
In its re-organization of finances of
the government the new committee
wi!l liave control of the 600,000,000
v.i 1,1 h.iiiinn reserve now in
the control of the imperial bank
lUUUlCii KUIU uuww"
CHARLOTTE, N.
Where Fortunes
By R. L. BLANCHARD. ,
Copyright in the United States and
Great Britain by Curtis Brown.
All rights Strictly Reserved.
Vienna, Aug. 1G. Thoughtful per
sons in Austria-Hungary are much con
cerned over the terrible amount of
gambling which is going on every
where throughout the monarchy.
Scarcely a week passes without some
sensational story coming to light of
high card playing in the aristocratic
Jockey Club in Vienna or the not
Casino in Budapest. These gambling
less famous sister institution,
the National Casino in Buda
pest. These gabling scandies.
moreover, are not confined to
the capital for from small provincial
towns and remote country districts
come frequent tales of high play. Nor
is the gambling to be found among
the aristocracy and wealthy classes
only. The. relatively poor also have
their gambling often in horse racing,
but most frequently in the lotteries
which are to be played everywhere and
are under the auspices of the imperial
and royal Government.
Naturally, however, the gambling
stories current in society, and which
often get into the newspapers, too,
concern tjhe upper classes entirely.
For the Hungarian aristocrat is a
born gambler and the Austrian nobles
are not far behind. Few of them in
either half of the empire take any real
interest in politics or the serious at
fairs of life. They prefer to occupy
themselves with the opera and theatre,
and racing and card playing and their
talk is of ballet dancers, norse and
cards. And so they dissipate their pat
rimony, mortgage their estate and
seem only to be happy when they are
head over ears in debt.
The last name to be added to the
long and imposing list of nobles and
millionares who have made ducks and
drakes of their inheritance is that oi
Baron Hermann Konigswarter. Once,
perhaps, the wealthiest young man in
the monarchy, with a patrimony of
seven or eight million dollars, his in
come is now less than a tenth of what
it once was. His vast estates in Bo
hemia, Hungar, and Lower Austria,
and his extensive house property in Vi
enna are all said to be heavily encum
bered with mortagages. His famous
racing stables have been sold to Baron
Rothschild for some sixty thousand
dollars, but this does not include the
stud, in which are some exceedingly
valuable brood mares and horses.
The Baron has certainly gone the
pace and the crash!' a big1' one even
for Vienna where heavy gambling
losses are no great novelty. For the
Konigswarter family is tremendously
rich, in fact the wealthiest Jewish
house in Austria, outside of the
Rothschilds. The Baron succeeded to
great estates at Aendeck and Tippels-
grunn and Chodan in Hungary, at
Niederkreuzstetten, in Lower Austria,
and vast properties atCsabadua and
Kis-Szanto, in Hungary. Besides ali
these he inherited several big houses in
Vienna, any one of which would repre
sent a yearly income sufficient to sup
port a middle-class family. Then he
had art treasurers of no mean value,
and a picture gallery rich in example
of old Dutch and Italian as well as
Austrian masters estimated to be
easily worth $600,000. Many of these
have already been disposed of.
Baron Hermann was only a second
son, but he came into the bulk of his
father's estate, as his elder brother
was cut off with a comparatively small
fortune for having married an actress..
In the hope of breaking into the most
exclusive circles of Austrian society
the Baron embarked upon a most ex
travagant career. He entertained
lavishly, maintained a costly racing
stable and at the Vienna Jockey Club
lost large sums of money at cards to
his aristocratic companions. He won
the Austrian Derby twice, and always
backed his horses heavily.
After all he can have had very little
satisfaction from it. For the Austri
an aristoeraticy is the most exclusive
in the world, and looks down with the
utmost scorn upon all interlopers,
however wealthy they may be, and es
pecially when they chance to be Jews.
The nobles would win the baron's
money, but they wouldn't ask him to
meettheir women folk. His marriage
also proved a very costly affair. To
please his wife, a Fraulein Von Drasko
vie, he abondoned the faith of his fore
fathers and became a Roman Catho
lic. And for this, under a special
clause in his father's will, he had to
forfeit a sum of a million guldens,
$400,000, which was diverted to various
TIJE
A V'es In Vienna. Sh;w!cit. on theRljtht. the
C , SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 25, 1906
Melt in a Single wight,
fT mj
1 JKp "
IA. STAK MEMBER OF THE VIE.VXA JOCKEY CLUB,
inniswarte!
i'ears-Chi
ihiefly 'Ihrough Losses
Jewish charities. And ten a few years
afterwards he. was divorced, and that
cost him another half million dollars.
Even his enormous rent roll couldn't
stand such wMl expenditures, so he
began to borroy, and it was the begin
ning of the enl. His total debts are
estimated at " oe -. than ; -two
million dollars, "and th? esXates are dif
ficult to realize -
It is the old ' story of the third
generation dissipating iwhat the previ
ous two had accumulated. The family
fortunes wre founded by Baron Her
mann's grandfather, ; Jones Konigs-
( water, who bought up parts of the site
of the old fortifications where Vienna s
magnificent Ringstrasse nqw stands.
The old man built house! and sold
them at big profit, and his son, Moritz,
who became the first baroi, was also
a shrewd man of business; and added
largely to his patrimony. Besides what
be bequeathed! to Hermann the late
Baron left some $5,000,000 among his
other children and to chatri.ies
Another prominent figure in the Au-stro-Hungariaij
gambling Jwirld, but of
a very different kind, is :kolaus von
Szemere. Of snoble Hungarian family
he has all the gambling instincts of his
class, but unlike most of his friends, he
generally comes out a wiyner. Quite
recently he is credited fvith having
won a million and aShalf kronen ($300,
000) in baccarat at the vnna Jockey
Club. He played in all twenty-nine
games. His! unfortunate, opponents
were also scions of anciert Hungarian
families, one a Count Es erhazy the
other a Count Festetics.
When this stor got into the Vienna
papers the Jocksy Club Officials were
greatly annoyed, and tie secretary
sent out an absolute denul, in which
it was said that baccarat playing was
not permitted in the cltib. But no
jody took the denial seriously. The
club is little else than a card-playing
institution. When King Edward was
here two years ago he went every
night to the club,-no ma ter how late
he may have been kept at official func
tions, and spent an hoi;r or two at
bridge.
Another equally well kaown Hunga
rian noble and member of the Reich
srath, Count Nicholas Banffv, was also
recently prominent in a card scandal.
It was at Klausenburg, the capital oi
Transylvaniania, and the game took
r V lIT iNew, lork there. The
Count and another Hungarian mag-
1, i i,- . 1.- . ' " I
Baron Hermann j Imis;awarter. Who Has Got Through a Fortune of Over JS.000.000 In the Xst Few
' " '
CiKEATEST GAMBLIMi C'l.l'B IN ELOSE.
Famous in. key "i'iul Wbert- iw-.iHy Nikolaus von
at Cards and on the liace Track.
nate sat down at 10 o'clock one night
to play baccarat with an Armenian
merchant Banffy's friend had enough
of it in an hour, and having lost all
his ready money, very prudently stop
ped. But the Count kept on until 4
in the morning, by which time the wily
Armenian Had won some 280,000 koro
wtt -$56,000-, J- TJb : Count had - some
trouble in raising ' the money to 1 pay
his losses. Jlis friends came to his
aid and the Armenian received 100,00
kronen ($20,000) in cash, an estate
worth 40,000 kronen ($8,000) and a
pension for life of 1,000 kronen ($200)
a month.
From Munich also come frequent
stories of heavy losses at the gambling
table on the part of aristocratic "punt
ers." The last caru scandal from the
Bavarian capital is one of . the worst
on record and is said to involve one
royal prince, two dukes, about twenty
counts and many lesser members ' of
the nobility. The scene of the gamb
ling which led up to this scandal is a
fashionable resort at Munich on exact
ly the lines of the Vienna Jockey Club.
Night after night gambling proceeds
there to a reckless extent, and, as in
the Austrian capital, enormous sums
are won and lost daily between the
hours of midnight and 6 in the morn
ing. Their heavy losses at this club have
ruined many promising young officers
of the Bavarian army, as well as num
erous young noblemen and members of
the Civil Service. Some of these, un
willing to face the disgrace of not pay
ing debts incurred at the card tables,
resorted to all sorts of frauds to se
cure sufficient funds toenable them to
continue their membership in the club.
Others took their own lives to escape
he consequences of their recklessness
The most distinguished of the sui
cides is Count Max Preyslmg, who was
raced with gambling debts exceeding
$500,000.
The royal prince implicated in the
latest Munich scandal is Francis Jos
eph of Bavarian, whose name was forg
ed to promissory notes by several of
ficers, who thus obtained large sums
of money by fraud. Other harassed
members resorted to systematic card
sharping In order to fleece inexperi
enced players. One young infantry
captain has been arrested in connec
tion with the scandal, but the exact
"VJU.
charge against him has not yet been
made public.
Sana re. the lluugarlao 8
txTtsman. Won 300
ooo ta
i
THE MORAVIANS IN LABRADOR.
The Settlement in Labrador a Mission
Church, Its Work Directed from
Saxony.
The firgt effort to found a mission on
Labrador was made by a Dutch sea
captain. Christian Erhardt, a member
of the Moravian brotherhood, who, in
July, 1752, landed at Cape Aillik in
tne ship Hope and named the spot
Hoffenthal (Hopedale). The attempt
cost him his life, for he was murder
ed by the Eskimos. Nothing daunted
by his fate, other Moravians visited
the coast, and amicable relations with
the Eskimos having been gradually es
tablished, a mission station was built
at Nain in 1771. This was followed,
in 1777, by Hopedale, seventy miles
south of Nain and about thirty-five
miles north of the first Hopedale at
Cape Allik. There are now six Mora
vian mission stations on Labrador
Hopedale, the most southerly; Zoar,
Nain, Okak, Hebron and Rama. The
last named is not far from Cape Chud
leigh, Hudson Bay. Snow falls there
early in September, and the ice off the
coast rarely begins to break before
the coast rarely begins to break up be
fore the middle of July. Except for
one dog-sleds mail in winter and the
brief visit from the mission ships in
summer, the stations north of Nain
are completely cut off from civiliza
tion. At Hebron the gales (are so
fierce that no buildings ' more than a
story high can withstand them.
The Moravian brotherhood is em
phatically a mission church, its work
being directed from Herrenhut, Saxo
ny. The mission on Labrador 13 sup
ported by the Society for the Further
ance of the Gospel in London, but
the missionaries are appointed by the
authorities at Herrenbut. A trade with
the Eskimos is carried on at the mis
sion .stations, provisions, clothing, guns
and ammunition being exchanged for
furs, seal oil and salt 'fish; and the
profits go to reimburse as far as they
will the S. F, G. This seems a queer
mixture of business and religion, and
has called forth considerable criticism.
No one, however, dislikes it more than'
the missionaries themselves.
But, even with the, trade, the mission
is not self-supporting. It has been
charged that, as the Eskimos are de
pendent upon the mission stores for
their supplies, they are virtually held
in slavery by the missionaries and that
the latter are as keen traders as they
are preachers. But these charges orig
inate with persons who are themselves
anxious to establish trade with the
Eskimos. As a matter of fact, the
poor Huskies would starve were it
not for the mission stations; for they
are proverbially improvident. I was
in one little Eskimo hut, perhaps ten
by fifteen, the proprietor of which
boasted six large kerosene lamps, and
naa mmg cards-. qy" brass buttons on
the walls as we would hang' pictures.
Lamps and buttons had been purchas
ed of a trading schooner at very high
rates, in exchange for the fur and fish
the hunter had captured with great
labor, and no Little danger, and this
when .he had no supply of provisions
laid in for the winter. Had he applied
to the mission store for such useless
articles, he would have been dissuad
ed from buying them.
That branch of the United Elder's
Conference of the Moravian : Church
which has special charge of mission
work has under its supervision a
school for the training of missionaries
and a school and home for mission
aries' children. The . latter is at
Kelinwelcke, near Bautzen, Saxony,
and thither, at the age of seven, the
children from the mission stations are I
sent. Here they receive instruction 1
until their sixteenth year, and after
that they are assisted in pursuing any
special study for "which they have
snown aptitude. ;
Missionaries remain in harness un
til they conscientiously feel that they
have become too infirm to be of further
service; they are then retired on a
pension. Each set of stations has its
superintendent, the head of the Labra
dor mission at Nain being also German
consul. Must of the missionaries are
German, though England is now con
tributing a few. The oldest mission
ary at each station is usually the
Hausvater, and under him conferences
are held in which the work is dividea
up among the "brothers." Much sec
ular work falls to their share, for the
stations are but lonely outposts. At
Hopedale, for instance, one of the
missionaries is in charge of the store,
and also brews the light beer which is
the only alcoholic beverage drunk at
the station; and the missionary who
officiates as principal of the Eskimo
school is also the baker, and feeds the
sheep and fowl. The wives take turn
in cooking dinner and supper, which
are "found" by the S. F. G., and are
served at a common table. Breakfast,
which the missionaries provide at their
own expense, is partaken of in their
own apartments. Century.
Future Promise.
She "I marry you Fred, will you
promise to take me to the theatre, or
out to dinner at least three evenings
a week?"
He "Well, maybe I won't be able
to get off always, but i fl don't, I'll
find another chap to take you."
She "Oh, Fred, you're just the lov
liest fellow on earth." The Bohemian
for September.
UNNUMBERED.
How many times do I love thee, dear?
Tell me how many thoughts there be
in the atmosphere
Of a new-fallen year,
Whose white and sablle hours appear
The latest flake of eternity: ,
So many times do I love thee, dear.
How many times do I love again?
Tell me how many beads there are
In a -silver chain
Of evening rain.
Unraveled from the trembling main,
And threading the eye of a yellow
So man v times do I love again.
By Thomas Lovell Beddoes.
PRICE: 5 CENTS
SLOWEST RAILROAD
FOUND 01 EARTH
Nw Orleans Times-Democrat.
The vicissitudes of a. trip over the
Inter-Oceanic Railway are numerous
snd harrowing, dating his letter fram
San Pedro Sulu, Honduras, which he
reached after a journey of thrrty
seven miles in eighteen hours.
Our leaving time was 6 o'clock,
says the writer, but we didn't pull
out of Puerto Cortes until 10 in the
morning. The nondescript affair
which they call a train down here
consisted of a wood burning engine,
four flat cars and a passenger coach.
Ouh crew was composed of an engin
eer, a half dozen firemen, one brake
man and the conductor.
There was an extra man, but in
the whole vocabulary of railroads I
find no namef for him. His position,
however, was a commanding one, and,
as subsequent events proved, a most
important one. He perched himself
n the front of the engine, above
where the cowcatcher should be, and
upon occasion industriously ladled
sand from a box beside him to the
rails m front.
Our numerous firemen passed the
wood from the car,s to the engine,
and at various points along the road
turned into a bucket brigade and
supplied water from nearby streams
to the engine. The engineer was a
Jamaican imbued with an extraord
inary pride for the ' land of his na
tivity and given upon occasion to de
claring that he was not a native or
Honduras he was a British object."
Jerry, I fear, is something of a gay
Lothario, and on his frequent trips
ever the road .has worked sad havoc
in the hearts of dusky maidens all
along the line. He invariably an
r ounced our approach to a village by
putting the hard pedal on the whistle,
and the entire population turned out
to greet us.
Train Slipped Back.
Jerry's strenuous musical efforts
came near causing a catastrophe at
one point where we encountered a
very heavy grade. Just before we
reached the top of the hill Jerry
thoughtlessly pulled the whistle cord,
and in the screaming blast that fol
lower the steam gave out and the
train began to slip back. Although
the cars were without brakes of any
kind, the company had prepared for
such .emergencies by providing a ma
hogany log on the rear platform, to
be. dropped under the rear wheels..
Unfartunatfcdy the 'rear " brakeman
was asleep on a fiat car in front, and
before he awakened the momentum of
the train was so great as to render
our remedy unavailing. We ran so
fast and so far in the next fifteen
minutes that it took us four hours to
get back.
At Laguna a stop of forty minutes
to replenish sand and water afford
ed opportunity to take note of our
surroundings and our fellow-passen
gers. The latter were mostly natives
and hot over clean. They were nice
and sociable and fraternized with me
without being coaxed. , My neighbor
on the right was a senora of unguess-
ble age, with a complexion of anti
que oak. She took pity on my tender
years and inexperience and lavished
a bunch of lingo on me that drove
tut of my head in the hrst round all
my carefully prepared Berlitz voca
bulary. She was a regular Water
bury linguist.
Spanish falling me in a pinch I re
torted to the sign manual and we got
along fairly of language which she
directed at me. I detected a familiar
phrdse and gallantly offered her a
Cigar. The expansive, smile which
greeted' my donation proved my inter
pretation to have been correct.
' Wandering around the village I
was struck by a neat and attractive
little cottage which invited closer in
spection. It was inclosed by a broad
fence, an unusual feature here. As I
drew near I discovered that the fence
was made of mahogany boards. With
the extreme good taste which is so
characteristic of these natives the
owner had carefully whitewashed it.
Magnificent Scenery Unfolded.
; Leaving Lagune, the train plunged
into a tropical swamp and forest.
The foliage was indescribably luxuri
cnt and beautiful. Mile after, mile
w? passed through arch-ways of bend
ing palms, gigantic In size, and
through groves of corozo trees. To
my mind the latter is the most per
fect representation of the picturesque
in tropical vegetation. Its trunk Is
clad in the richest attire of parastic
life; its wonderful feathery leaves,
often thirty or forty feet in length,
Lend in elegant and graceful curves
under the weight of their own luxur
iance or the burden of ornamental
vines, while beneath all this mass
of tropical richness may be seen
clusters of those delicious cahorn
nuts hanging like immense cornu
copias and containing two or more
bushels.
For a distance we passed beside a
deep, swift stream, which flows for
miles through a wild jungle, in the
eternal shadow of the gigantic celba,
cedar and rubber trees, between
whose moss and vineclad trunks grow
r.alm trees of every description. Na-
i ture, all giving and bountiful, is here
levealed. Precious wooas are so com
rion that rosewood is often used for
telegraph poles,' and the ties are of
mahogany.
Emerging from the jungle, we
came to the banana plantations, and
here I learned that this remarkable
lailroad transports to the steamers
CO per cent of the bananas which en
ter New Orleans. Practically all of
the bananas consumed -west of the
Ohio river are carried on the railroad
to the seacoast. . ' .