Unusual courtships, engagements, and weddings may be treated as regular news; in that case the stories of them are not often placed in the society section. Such news not infrequently has humorous and pathetic possibilities that the writer may develop without violating the canons of good taste.
UNUSUAL COURTSHIP
New York Herald
Having failed in eight years of effort to find a guardian, governess or housekeeper who would take a proper interest in his two small motherless children, Lorenzo Villette, a prosperous French merchant, living at No. 90 North Harwood place, Brookbank, decided he would try to find a wife. A preliminary search failed to find a suitable candidate and he turned to the church, being a devout member of St. Anthony’s, in Brookbank.
Two weeks ago he completed a novena, and on the ninth day of his continuous prayer he expressed the wish that a wife who would be a good mother would be granted to him.
Nothing happened until the second day after he had finished his nine days of prayer. On that day Miss Mary O’Connor, of No. 72 Laclede avenue, Brookbank, made a social call upon her friend, Miss Frances Smith, a cousin of Mr. Villette, in her home, in Forest avenue, at Railroad avenue.
While the two young women talked Miss Smith said to her friend:—
“You seem so downcast recently, Mary. You should find a husband.”
“Yes, I suppose,” was the answer, “but the right man has not knocked at the door yet.”
Just then Mr. Villette rang the bell at his cousin’s home. He was introduced to Miss O’Connor and an hour later accompanied her to her home. Three days later he escorted her to a theatre and the following day met her relatives.
Then she met Mr. Villette’s children and called at his home, and last Saturday they obtained a license to be married. St. Michael’s Church, which the O’Connor family attends, is preparing for one of the largest weddings of the season on next Tuesday.
“I am very happy,” said Miss O’Connor last night, “and I am so thankful that Mr. Villette said a novena and that I was sent to him.”
UNUSUAL ROMANCE
Chicago Inter Ocean
Firemen one night last summer stood on the street before a blazing apartment building at West Fourteenth and South Sangamon streets. They played their streams of water on the fire, although they realized that the building could not be saved. Suddenly from above came the scream of a girl. She was seen clinging to a window ledge on the third floor before a background of flame.
That was the beginning of the story.
Its close came yesterday afternoon within the dim and quiet church of St. Francis of Assisi, when the girl, Miss Mary Wilkins, became the wife of the man who had dared and accomplished her rescue, Arthur Sheer, truckman of hook and ladder company No. 5.
Of all the firemen who stood before the burning building that night, Sheer alone volunteered to attempt the rescue. A ladder was rushed to the red and cracking wall. Blinded by the flames and smoke and with his heavy clothing fired from the heat, Sheer groped his way up the ladder. His mates played streams of water along the course of his climb. He reached Miss Wilkins and carried her to the street and to safety.
“And that’s how it was,” the bride said as she left the church clinging to the arm of her big and blushing husband. “He and I learned to know each other after the fire, and—and—well, that’s how it was.”
The blush on Truckman Sheer’s face deepened when the interview was directed upon himself.
“Ah—er—any fireman, you know,” he stammered, “would—would—but say, you’d ought to see the place we’ve got fixed up. We’re—ah—we’re moving in today.”
The home of the couple will be at 919 West Twenty-third place.
COWBOY WEDDING
Chicago Herald
“Snorky Dan” Sammons tied his pony to the rack at the stockyards yesterday, doffed his chaps, wiggled into “the conventional black” and, with the able assistance of 300 wildly enthusiastic “boys from the yards,” was roped, tied and branded at the altar.
It was the biggest “cowboy wedding” the yards ever saw. When “Snorky” knocked off buying hogs for the Bismark Packing Company early in the day and got ready to hit the trail for the Holy Cross Church, East Sixty-fifth street and Maryland avenue, he had no hint of the scheme on foot.
Late in the afternoon the South Side, however, became aware that there was something doing besides the Cubs-Sox battle. First a two-wheeled phaeton, dragged along by a gaunt, underfed mule and driven by a cowboy, made its appearance. A big banner was stretched across its sides giving the bridegroom this welcome admonition:
“Don’t weaken, Snorky.”
On its heels came a “hungry five” German band playing Irish melodies, riding in a “cripple wagon” driven by a red-coated negro. A tractor engine, pulling a chain of twelve “clean-up” chariots, came next, and in its wake a couple of hundred yelling, plug-hatted cowboys led by “Rags” Murphy and Tom Dorney. As marshals of the “round-up” there were “Tex” Hobart, “Jim” McGuirk, “Spuds” Grady and “Skinny” Kenny. Even young Edward Morris, who recently went to work in the packing business, was on the job.
The cavalcade drew up in front of the church and awaited “Snorky.” It was about 5 o’clock when he arrived in a big touring car with bride-to-be, Miss Mary Cowman, 6876 South Chicago avenue, daughter of the late John Cowman, wealthy coal dealer. As the party entered the church every noise-making device, from the cowboy yell to automobile horns, was brought into play.
While the Rev. D. D. Hishen was “tying the knot” inside, the automobile was lassoed. The bridal party, upon re-entering the vehicle, attempted to make their getaway, but in vain. Surrounded by the prancing ponies, they were paraded to the yards at Root and Halsted streets, and after “Snorky” had made a little speech he was permitted to go.
ELOPEMENT
Chicago Herald
Just because she was a girl, Charlotte Smith, daughter of a Parkhurst contractor, saw no reason why she should not learn from her father all about building houses on well-located lots.
Charles Ferris Short, son of a real estate dealer in the north shore suburb, had been getting information about the value of a piece of ground upon which a house could be built.
What, then, more natural than for Charles, filled with knowledge about home locations, and Charlotte, wise in the manner of erecting a home and having, meanwhile, notions that other persons in the world didn’t count for much anyway, to conclude to join their knowledge for their own profit?
Nothing, they agreed. But Charles was only 21 years old, and Charlotte 19.
“Too young,” parents of both agreed.
Having visions of a piece of property selected by him and improved by a house designed by her as a place where they, together, would not be annoyed by unsympathetic parents, and reading in the Herald that twelve couples had eloped to Crown Point Monday to be married, they boarded a train for Indiana yesterday. Last night they were Mr. and Mrs. Short.
Charlotte’s parents didn’t know a thing about it until told by the Herald; neither did Charles’s people.
“Oh, well, I guess there’s nothing to do but say it’s just fine,” Charlotte’s mother said. “But she hasn’t a bit of table linen. We’ll have to get busy right away.”
So it was all right after all.
Others on the train taken by the Parkhurst couple were Peter Felker and Miss Sara Sorley. They had planned to be married for some time. It was inconvenient to take a honeymoon trip. So they, too, eloped to Crown Point.
SEPTUAGENARIAN ROMANCE
Chicago Herald
More than seventy years ago a barefoot boy and a rosy cheeked girl trudged together each day along the roads of Albion County, Michigan, to a little red school-house, where, at adjoining desks, they studied “readin’, ’ritin’ and ’rithmetic.”
Yesterday the same “boy” and the same “girl” left Fair Oaks together for the county building in Chicago. There they obtained a marriage license. A few minutes later they were married. Thus has Fair Oaks furnished its first septuagenarian romance.
The bridegroom is Rudolph Gray, 77 years old, the possessor of two grandchildren. The bride, until yesterday, Mrs. Mary J. Vanson, is a year his junior. She has three grandchildren.
After the ceremony the couple returned to the residence of the bridegroom’s daughter, Mrs. Clara A. Hawkins of 1231 Jenifer avenue, Fair Oaks. There the bridegroom told the story of the romance.
“We’ve known each other as far back as either of us can remember,” he said. “We were reared together in Albion County, went to the same district school together, and later, when we were a little older, went to the same dances and parties together.
“Then our families moved away from Albion County, and we lost track of each other for a while. I got married and served through the civil war. Sarah was married to an Illinois man.
“Her husband was killed in 1892 in a railroad accident, and my first wife died about three years ago. A few months ago we learned of each other’s whereabouts, started to write back and forth, and today were married.”
The ceremony was performed, according to Mr. Gray, by S. M. Schall, in the latter’s office at 118 North LaSalle street. Later the couple had their wedding supper at the Hawkins residence in Fair Oaks. In a few days they will leave for Manheim, Ill., where they will make their home.
WEDDING
New York Times
The wedding of Miss Emma Martin Willis, daughter of James S. Willis, President of the United States Bank of Commerce of this city, and Mrs. Willis, and Lesley Green Shafter of Greenville, Penn., was celebrated at 8 o’clock last night in St. John’s Episcopal Church, Montclair, N. J. The Rev. Dr. William R. Bolton, rector of the church, officiated.
The bride wore a gown of ivory satin and a veil of lace, which was caught up with a chaplet of orange blossoms. She carried a shower bouquet of white orchids and lilies of the valley. Her father gave her in marriage.
The maid of honor was Miss Martha Houghton of Calumet, Mich., a former schoolmate of the bride. She wore a pink satin gown, draped with tulle and net, and carried pink Killarney roses.
There were six bridesmaids, including the Misses Emma Dickens, Elsie Walter, Anna Wilson, Helen Holton, Mary Smith, and Katherine Wilkins. They were gowned alike, in blue and white chiffon, and carried Aaron Ward roses with streamers of blue ribbon.
Clinton M. Shafter was best man for his brother. The ushers were George H. Kennedy, John C. Lane, Arthur Carpenter, and Dr. James Stratton Collins, Jr., of Greenville; Morris B. Lamb of this city, and James S. Willis, Jr., of Montclair.
The church was decorated with autumnal flowers and foliage. Along the centre aisle were large clusters of white chrysanthemums. Ascension lilies were used on the altar.
More than 200 guests from New York and near-by towns attended the reception, which was held after the ceremony at the home of the bride, 144 Nedwick Avenue, Upper Montclair. The couple received the congratulations of their relatives and friends under an arbor of pink and white roses in the reception room. The house was decorated throughout with autumnal foliage and flowers.
The bride was a pupil at Miss Spence’s School in this city in 1909–1910. Mr. Shafter was graduated from Williams College, class of ’10, and is a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. His father, who died several years ago, was the owner of large coal fields and mines, which Mr. Shafter has managed since leaving school. Mr. and Mrs. Shafter will live in Greenville.
WEDDING
Boston Transcript
Scarboro, Oct. 23—St. John’s School Chapel was the scene of the marriage, at noon today, of Miss Violet Otis Gray to John Stanley Hart. Miss Gray is the older daughter of Rev. William Green Gray, D. D., head of St. John’s School, and Mrs. Gray, who was before her marriage Miss Martin. The bride is the granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William C. Martin of Boston, who long were summer cottagers at Nahant. Herbert F. Martin and Harrison Gray Martin are her uncles, and Mrs. Smith of Washington and Ipswich, wife of Rev. Richard Otis Smith, D. D., is an aunt. Miss Gray has a younger sister, Margaret, and four brothers, William G. Gray, Jr., Sigourney Gray, Appleton Gray and Robert Gray. The bride made her début three seasons ago.
Mr. Hart, the bridegroom, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Stanley Hart of Commonwealth avenue, Boston, who have a country estate in Bedford. He was graduated from Harvard with the class of 1913. He is interested in rowing and is a member of the Union Boat Club. William A. Hart, of the Harvard class of 1915, is a younger brother.
Dr. Gray, the bride’s father, was the officiating clergyman, and gave his daughter in marriage. The bride was dressed in a gown of white satin and tulle, made with a pointed neck and long, full train. It was trimmed with fine old lace, and her veil, also of lace, was the one which had been worn by her mother, and still earlier by her grandmother, Mrs. Martin, on the occasion of their weddings. It was held in place with orange blossoms. The bridal bouquet was of lilies of the valley, white orchids and delicate ferns.
The younger sister, Miss Margaret Gray, was flower girl and wore a high-waisted dress of white net with embroidered ruffles, with which was worn a small hat of pink satin trimmed with lace and pink rosebuds. She carried pale pink roses. The bridesmaids were Miss Elizabeth Howard of Boston, cousin of the bridegroom; Miss Anna Appleton Graves of South Orange, N. J., and Miss Mary Appleton of New York. Miss Graves and Miss Appleton are the bride’s cousins. These three attendants were dressed in pale pink taffeta with sleeves and long tunics of pink tulle. They wore large flat hats of dark blue velvet and carried bunches of pink rosebuds mixed with bluets. Mrs. Gray, the bride’s mother, wore dark blue silk and a hat of dark blue velvet trimmed with feathers of the same shade.
Frederic Hart of Boston, Harvard, ’13, a cousin of the bridegroom, was best man, and those who served as ushers were Charles Pelham Morgan, Jr., Harvard, ’14; Edwin Curtis, Harvard, ’13; Wilkins Frothingham, Harvard, ’13; George William Meyer, Jr., Harvard, ’13; Bayard Tyler, Harvard, ’13; Tudor Jenkins, Harvard, ’13; Richard Courtland, Harvard, ’16; George Bartlett, Harvard, ’13; Sigourney Gray, Amherst, ’18, brother of the bride.
WEDDING
New York Herald
Southern smilax and palms made the background for the bower of white and pink cut flowers and plants ornamenting the chancel of the Church of the Divine Paternity last Tuesday when Miss Florence I. Gardiner, daughter of Mrs. Curtis Gardiner, of No. 949 West Eighty-fifth street, was married to Mr. Frederick Guild Jenkins, Jr., the Rev. Dr. Hall officiating.
The bride wore a gown of ivory white satin trimmed with pearls and embroidered with orange blossoms with court train of chiffon and satin. Instead of a veil she wore a cap of princess lace, and she carried a bouquet of lilies of the valley and white orchids. She was attended by her sister, Mrs. Deland Roswell Morton, who wore a gown of pink satin trimmed with brown lace and beaver fur, with picture hat to match; she carried Killarney roses. Little Ruth and Virginia Gardiner, the flower girls, wore frocks of white lingerie with pink sashes, and carried white French baskets of sunburst roses.
Mr. David Pelham was best man, and the ushers were Messrs. John Burton, Harrison Kneeland and John J. Surl, of this city, and Harold Warren, of Fishkill, N. Y. After the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins started on a wedding trip through the South.
WEDDING
Philadelphia Ledger
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3.—Miss Emily Curtis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William T. Curtis, was married today to Captain William Raines Darlington, Coast Artillery, United States army. The ceremony took place at the home of the bride’s parents in Georgetown. The Rev. D. H. Markham officiated. The attendants were Miss Winifred Deland and Captain Robert Bruce Scott, U. S. A. The latter and the bridegroom wore full uniform. The bride wore white satin, with tulle overdress, and a tulle veil. Following a wedding breakfast, Captain and Mrs. Darlington left for the South, the former being stationed at Fort Garfield, Ga.
ENGAGEMENT
Chicago Post
Mrs. Francis T. Calkins, 1253 Hamilton avenue, announces the engagement of her youngest daughter, Imogen Hammond, to Mr. Percy Chapman, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Chapman, 3024 Sigourney street.
Miss Calkins’s father was the late Colonel Francis T. Calkins, first colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment, I. N. G. The bride elect is president of the Delta Gamma Mu Sorority and a member of the Beta Phi Epsilon Sorority. Mr. Chapman is a member of the Delta Omicron Fraternity and is known in athletic circles. No date has been set for the wedding.
ENGAGEMENT
New York Times
The engagement of Miss Agnes P. Colby and Frederick E. Chandler has been announced. Miss Colby is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. J. Wilson Colby, the noted evangelist, with whom she made a globe-encircling trip several years ago. She is spending the Winter with her aunt, Mrs. Charles Stratton Wilce, at Springfield, Mass.
Mr. Chandler is a graduate of Williams College, class of ’12, and is a Director in the Industrial Bonding Corporation of New York. The wedding is to take place in the early Spring at the Colby home at Jamaica Estates, L. I.
WEDDING PARTY DINNER DANCE
New York Times
Mrs. Ralph H. Devine, whose brother, Harry Curtis Livingston of Cleveland, Ohio, is to marry Miss Hope Alexander, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Alexander, tomorrow afternoon in the Church of the Heavenly Rest, entertained last night at the St. Regis in honor of Miss Alexander and her fiancé.
Covers were laid for twenty-six guests, and the table was decorated with lilies of the valley and pink roses. Silver bonbon boxes were given as favors. The guests included some of the girl friends of the bride-elect, the best man, Frederick R. Devine, and the ushers, Sidney Dillon, Arthur G. Alexander, Benjamin Noyes, Martin Otis Tilden, Harrison Prescott, and Frederick Cheever.
There was informal dancing afterward, for which a few additional guests were invited.
COLLEGE FRATERNITY DINNER
Topeka Capitol
The Kappa Sigma men of Washburn college celebrated Founders’ day with a dinner at the Mills tea room yesterday evening. The men of the active chapter, Gamma Nu, and many of the local alumni gathered together for the fraternity’s forty-fifth anniversary. It was on December 10, just forty-five years ago, that the fraternity, now the largest in number of chapters, was founded at the University of Virginia.
The tables were decorated with the fraternity flower, lily of the valley, and the colors, scarlet, white and emerald. Toasts, with Mr. Earl Trobert acting as toastmaster, were responded to by Mr. William Whitcomb, for the pledges, Mr. Merrill Ream, for the actives, Mr. James Coleman, on the “Fraternity Relations to the Alumnus,” Mr. Monte Kistler, on “Fraternity Expansion,” Dr. A. B. Jeffrey, on “Internal Development,” and Mr. W. K. Miller, on “The Why of a Greek.” The fraternity songs were sung as a finishing touch.
The Kappa Sigmas at the affair were: Mr. Monte Kistler, Mr. Irwin Keller, Mr. Clayton Kline, Mr. Robert Drum, Mr. James Coleman, Dr. A. B. Jeffrey, Mr. W. W. Miller, Mr. D. Elton McIntosh, Mr. Kenneth Kline, Mr. Dwight Ream, Mr. Merrill Ream, Mr. Wayne Cook, Mr. Robert Whitcomb, Mr. Richard Whitcomb, Mr. Earl Trobert, Mr. Warren Humphrey, Mr. Charles Kesler, Mr. Robert Ward, Mr. Russell Swiler, Mr. John Ripley, Mr. Clifford Olander, Mr. Forest Rice, Mr. Duane Van Horn, Mr. Elwin Olander, Mr. Ned Brown, Mr. Edwin Tucker, Mr. Harold Cone, Mr. William Whitcomb, Mr. John March, Mr. Ray Enfield, Mr. Jay Jenson and Mr. Jackson Brown.
CHRISTMAS DINNER REUNION
Chicago Herald
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hinton of 891 East Twenty-first street will give the annual dinner for members of the Hinton family Christmas night. This will be the sixty-fourth Christmas dinner and reunion in the Hinton family. Among those who will be present are Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Hinton, State’s Attorney and Mrs. Maclay Hinton, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Whitcomb, Mrs. Gertrude Hinton Humphrey and Mrs. Charles C. Coleman. Covers will be laid for thirty-five.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF DINNER PARTY
Chicago Herald
Miss Camille Russell Ward of 1891 Grand boulevard, who made her début Thanksgiving day, will give a dinner Sunday in honor of Miss Irene Rice, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Rice of 3736 Elton avenue, who is to be married Dec. 29 to Edmund Cook, son of Dr. and Mrs. E. Walton Cook.
DANCE FOR CHARITY
Chicago Herald
Hungry babies will be fed, and the coffers of at least a dozen South Side day nurseries will be filled, from the proceeds of the annual ball of the Friendly Aid Society to be given Monday evening at the Blackstone Hotel. Mrs. Edward E. Hammond is president of the society. The beneficiaries include Bethlehem Creche, Chicago Refuge for Girls, Children’s South Side Free Dispensary, Home for Convalescent Women and Children, Home for Destitute Crippled Children, Jackson Park Sanitarium, Legal Aid Society, Margaret Etter Creche, Stockyards Day Nursery, Boys’ Shelter, Visiting Nurses and the Juvenile Protective Association.
SORORITY’S FORMAL PARTY
Kansas City Star
The spring formal of the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority was given in F. A. A. Hall Friday evening. The chapter president, Miss Elsa Bartell, and the house mother, Mrs. Anna Stratton, headed the receiving line. A very clever electrical effect was carried out in the sorority colors, gold and black. Kansas City guests were Mr. Emmett Donnet, Mr. Arthur Dix, Mr. James Sampson, Mr. Carl Bright, Mr. Edward Dix, Mr. Robert Campbell, Mr. Harland Hamilton, Mr. Albert Rook, Mr. George Bright, Mr. Ivan Bean, Mr. Ben Sweet, Mr. Charles Hagen and Mr. Richard Smith. Kansas City Thetas are: Miss Marie Hedrick, Miss Emma Mae Root, Miss Katherine Kiezer, Miss Louisa Hedrick, Miss Helen Tompkins, Miss Barbara Martin, Miss Marjorie Hile, Miss Mable Perkins, Miss Elsa McClure, Miss Ida Perry, Miss Caroline Nutt, Miss Virginia Gray and Miss Josephine Stone.
CLUB DANCE
New York Herald
A dance for the members of the Colony Club will be given in the Marseilles Hotel to-morrow night. The patronesses will include Mmes. Edward Burton Williams, William Grant Brown, Emma Kip Edwards, H. W. Harding, Hartwell B. Grubb, William L. Sands, Edward Donnelly, Harry Grimes and Upton Slingluff, and Misses Florence Guernsey and Ella L. Henderson.
Chicago Herald
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Maxwell of West Walton place gave a dance last night at the Chicago Latin School for their daughter, Miss Rosalie Maxwell, and her young friends at home from school for the holidays.
MUSICALE
Chicago Post
Mrs. Lamson Neil Pelham of Evanston entertained a number of guests at a musical this afternoon at 3 o’clock at her home, 1460 Appleton avenue. She was assisted by Mrs. Henry P. Parker and Mrs. Walter W. White. The artists were Mr. Heath Gregory, who gave a group of songs, and Mr. Theodore du Moulin, cellist of the Chicago Orchestra, with Mr. Shynman as accompanist. The house was prettily decorated and in every room there were masses of flowers and pots of heather.
COLLEGE ALUMNAE MEETING
Chicago Herald
The regular meeting of the Chicago Alumnae Association of Kappa Kappa Gamma will be held Dec. 30, in room A of the Chicago College Club. Mrs. L. J. Lamson will talk during the tea hour on the work and needs of the Margaret Etter Creche, which was founded by Mary F. Etter, a Kappa of Epsilon Chapter. Miss Louise Merrill, a former president of this association, will pour.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF LUNCHEON
Philadelphia Ledger
Mrs. Seymour Thornton has issued cards for a luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton, to be followed by a matinee theatre party, Saturday, December 19, in honor of Miss Elinor Judd Wilson, the débutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Wilson. Among the guests will be Mrs. Charles H. Wilson, Mrs. Joseph B. Melton, Miss Katharine Torrey, Miss Marjorie Deland, Miss Eleanor B. Robinson, Miss Ethel Hastings, Miss Frances Tyler, Miss Elizabeth C. Jenkins, Miss Eleanore Curtis, Miss Elizabeth E. Mills, Miss Helena Rawlins, Miss Christine Rice and Miss Edith Harrold.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THEATRE PARTY
Philadelphia Ledger
Dr. and Mrs. T. Bradford Cotton have sent out invitations for a theatre party, followed by supper, at their home, 1802 Ashbury place, Monday night. Miss Hilda Taylor, the débutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Taylor, of Medina, is to be the guest of honor and the other guests are to be débutantes and men of the younger set to the number of 18.
THEATRE PARTY
Philadelphia Ledger
Mr. and Mrs. James Francis Cheltenham gave a theatre party last night in honor of Miss Margaret Rand, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Augustus Rand. Afterwards the guests were entertained at a supper at the Ritz-Carlton.
CARD PARTY
Kansas City Star
Mr. and Mrs. Grant Milton Coffey entertained with an auction bridge party Friday evening, at which the engagement of their sister, Marion Perkins Clark, to Dr. Earl Bispam was announced. The place cards were water colored sketches of Cupid carrying envelopes in which were the announcements. Favors were won by Miss Eugenia Devine, Mrs. J. W. Harter, Dr. Earl Bispam and Mr. Benjamin G. Root. Guests were limited to the friends of Miss Clark.
Philadelphia Ledger
A “500” party will be given by the feminine members of the Valley Green Canoe Club in the clubhouse Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock, to be followed by a buffet supper and dancing in the evening. The entertainment will mark the opening of the new English grill room, where the dancing will take place, and also the new library and reception hall. The members who have charge of the affair are: Mrs. James Perkins, Mrs. Edmund Chynoweth, Miss Bessie Maxwell, Miss Irene Carter, Miss Margaret Creig and Miss Mabel N. Donaldson.
Philadelphia Ledger
Miss Elsa Catlin, débutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore W. Catlin, will be the guest of honor at a party which John Wilkins Frothingham, Jr., of School House lane, Germantown, will give at The Rabbit tomorrow night. The chaperones will be Mrs. Catlin and Miss Sarah Wilkins Frothingham, the latter the sister of the host. The guests will be Miss Charlotte Harding, Miss Virginia Racine, Miss Emilie P. Jackson, Miss Josephine Wooton, Miss Alice Thompson, Miss Margaret Burton, Miss Cordelia Brown, Miss Pauline Dickens, Albert E. Kennedy, Jr., William Barry, Rodney N. Land, Harry R. Neil, John C. Bell, Jr., Thomas K. Fenton, Jr., Alexander Mercer, Jr., Joseph G. B. Renton, John B. Knox, 2d, Barclay Wood, Lewis Smith and Andrew Van Brunt.
ENTERTAINMENTS FOR DISTINGUISHED GUEST
Philadelphia Ledger
Mrs. Pethick Lawrence will be given several entertainments during her stay in this city. A reception will be held for her tonight at the home of Miss Mary McMurtrie, 1104 Spruce street. Those who will receive with Miss McMurtrie and Mrs. Lawrence will be Mrs. Edward Troth, Miss Anne H. Wharton, the writer, Mrs. Edward Parker Davis, Mrs. Morris Jastrow, Mrs. Francis D. Patterson and Mrs. Thomas F. Kirkbride.
Mrs. Lawrence will be the guest of Mrs. H. H. Donaldson over Sunday.
VISIT
Chicago Herald
Ensign and Mrs. Wilson K. Spring of Boston are visiting their parents, Colonel and Mrs. Taylor E. Spring, at 9652 Kenwood avenue. Mrs. W. K. Spring was Miss Florence Berwin before her marriage last August. They will return immediately after New Year’s to join Ensign Spring’s ship “Oklahoma,” which will sail early in January for Cuba.
ENTERTAINMENTS FOR GLEE CLUB
Chicago Post
The program to be rendered this year by the Harvard Musical Clubs on Wednesday evening, Dec. 30, at 8:15 o’clock, in Orchestra Hall, is an especially attractive one. The Glee Club, which last year distinguished itself by winning a competitive glee club meet in New York, occupies the central position. Three Chicago men are making the tour this year. They are Mr. Arthur Dee, 3d, of Oak Park, Mr. S. P. Priestley and Mr. D. H. Curtis, who was this year chosen assistant manager of the clubs.
Following the concert Mrs. John Cotton Barclay, 240 Lake Shore drive, will give a dance at her home in honor of the members of the clubs. As the dance this year is to take place in a private home, the invitations are limited. Mrs. Barclay’s son, Mr. Burton Barclay, is a Harvard man, and his roommate, Mr. Charles Brunswick of Detroit, formerly of Chicago, is a member of the Glee Club and will take part in the concert.
Mrs. Charles C. Graves, 1404 Oaklawn place, will be among those giving dinners before the concert.
ENTERTAINMENT FOR CHARITY
New York Times
Announcement has just been made of the débutantes and members of the younger generation in society who are to take part in the annual entertainment for charity of the Junior League, which is to be held on three nights, beginning Monday, Jan. 25, at the Waldorf-Astoria. This entertainment is always the culmination of the formal season for the débutantes who make up the membership of the League, and it is largely attended by society.
The entertainment is to be called “Le Jour Férie,” (“The Holiday,”) and besides a programme of dances, there will be booths and a soda water fountain, presided over by one of the débutantes of the season. Rehearsals for the dances have been in progress for some time at the homes of Mrs. C. B. Alexander, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, Mrs. R. Fulton Cutting, and Mrs. William J. Schieffelin.
Mrs. Courtlandt Nicoll of 405 Park Avenue is in charge of the sale of tickets.
There is to be a carnival procession, after which the special dances will be shown. Miss Mary J. Schieffelin is Chairman of the Irish dance, in which the Misses Lillian Talmage, Sylvia Holt, Eunice Clapp, Josephine Wells, Marie Thayer, Eugenie Rand, Rita Boker, Margaret Erhart, and an equal number of young men are to take part.
In the mirror dance will be Mrs. Walter Stillman, Miss Beatrice G. Pratt, William Boulton, Jr., Lynford Dickinson, and Horace Allen.
Miss Mary Alexander is Chairman of the Pierrot dance, in which are to appear Mrs. John Rutherford, and the Misses Elsie Stevens, Marie Tailer, Carol Harriman, Muriel Winthrop, Ethel Crocker, John Elliot, Schuyler Parsons, Bradish J. Carroll, Jr., Stuyvesant Chanler, Suydam Cutting, George Rushmore, and Reginald Rives.
In the Russian dance, of which Miss Edith Mortimer is Chairman, Mrs. Louis W. Noël and the Misses Alexandra Emery and Lisa Stillman, with Anderson Dana, George B. Post, Jr., Auguste Noël, Maurice Roche, Gerald Murphy, and Edward Shippen are to appear.
Miss Margaret Trevor is in charge of the dance called “Moment Musicale,” Miss Mary Canfield is head of the Gavotte dance, and Miss Frances Breese and Marie Louise Emmet have organized the Harlequin dance. Miss Eugenie Philbin is Chairman of the Frivolité dance, in which there will be a fancy fox trot. Miss Florence Blair heads the list in the Spanish dance, while Miss Josephine Nicoll is Chairman of the Saltorella dance and Miss Gladys Fries of the Tyrolean dance.
Fifty society girls, many of them débutantes, and as many young society men are to take part in the carnival procession.
CHARITY BAZAAR
New York Herald
Members of the Universal Sunshine Society, foreseeing the demand that will be made this winter by the poor in New York for help, are devoting their energies to their annual bazaar, which is to be held in the McAlpin Hotel on the afternoon and evening of Tuesday. Mrs. Florence Hart Jerome is chairman of the sale.
A feature of the bazaar will be the flag exhibit at the Peace and Plenty table, with the official peace flag and autographed photograph of the President which will become the property of the person who takes the flag. Mrs. Clarence Burns, president, Mrs. Jane Pierce, general secretary, and branch presidents will preside over the various tables. These will be:—Aprons, Mrs. C. D. Baldwin; tea table, served by actresses; refreshments, Mmes. Damon Lyon, M. B. Gates, Stuart Smith and J. J. Coudrey, and the Misses R. Burlingham, M. Loughey and M. Mutterer; fancy table, Mrs. F. H. Dean and the Misses Eva Bolger and Edna Schoneck; flower table, Mrs. H. G. Kost and the Misses Helen Kost, Leonore Erikson, Sadie Spencer, Helen Gibbons, Alma Wolfe, Margaret Davies, H. Nealy, F. L. Hurt and L. H. Macdonald; candy table, Mrs. S. J. Scherer; home made cake table, Mrs. R. G. Spencer and the “In Memoriam” branch, of Brooklyn, Miss M. de Comps and small children. Miss Victorine Hayes will sing during the evening. The bazaar will open at two o’clock and continue until midnight.
CHAPTER XV
MISCELLANEOUS LOCAL NEWS
Type of story. Although most local events have been included in the various classes of stories discussed in preceding chapters, there remain several forms of city news that require separate consideration. Much interesting, timely information is to be found in schools, public libraries, museums, parks, and various departments of city government. As activities supported by public money, these institutions should be of interest to every citizen. Real estate, building, manufacturing, and business matters also furnish news of considerable interest and importance. Besides this information, there are many little incidents in the daily life of every city that have no significance as news but that can be written up as entertaining stories. Hotels, railroad stations, docks, and street cars are frequently the scenes of little comedies and tragedies that the reporter with keen insight into human life and with ability to portray them, turns into readable sketches. Animals no less than persons may be the central figures in these stories.
Purpose. The aim in one class of these local stories is to furnish timely, significant information in attractive form concerning public institutions and business activities. The purpose of the other class is to entertain the reader with little glimpses of the life of the city. Constructive journalism undertakes to stimulate the interest of every citizen in municipal affairs and in public institutions by putting prominently before him from time to time significant information about them.
The utmost accuracy in presenting information of public affairs and business matters, it is needless to say, is absolutely essential. It is important to maintain the same standard of truthfulness in writing entertaining feature stories, not because their contents are of vital importance, but because a newspaper, in order to command the confidence of its readers, cannot present anything in its news columns that is not true. Fictitious details are no more justifiable in feature stories than in news stories.
Treatment. In order to interest the average reader in news of various municipal activities it is necessary to make the stories attractive in form and style. Striking facts and figures or unusual statements, featured at the beginning, catch the reader’s eye and lead him to read the story as long as its subject matter and style interest him. Effective use of statistics and comparisons is shown in the story “Public Schools Open,” p. 233. Two stories that begin with unusual statements are those entitled “School for Backward Children,” p. 235, and “New Feature in Manufacturing,” p. 243.
Since there is practically no news interest in entertaining feature stories, the reader’s attention is attracted and held by the way in which the story is told. Narrative and descriptive beginnings, conversation, suspense, humor and other devices used in short stories and novels are well adapted to these news stories.
Note—The following story was published some years before the European War.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OPEN
New York World
There trooped into the public schools of New York yesterday an army without weapons that in numbers exceeded the great military force of the German Empire, with its 613,000 fighting men; that was greater than the standing army of France, with its force of 529,000 available soldiers, and that more than doubled Great Britain’s defenders.
The school-house doors of the consolidated city were thrown open to 625,000 pupils, commanded by 17,000 teachers, or a greater number of commanders than now direct the movements of the combined military forces of the three powerful nations in the world.
The United States Army, with its 70,000 men and officers, is a little more than one-tenth of this multitude. The entire budget of the War Department, which includes a vast expenditure outside of actual expense for the maintenance of the army posts in time of peace, was $103,000,000 last year. New York’s Board of Education, which in 1907 spent $19,845,870 for teachers’ salaries alone, has asked this year for $31,641,326.75 to carry out its plans for providing additional accommodations for pupils.
The maintenance on a peace footing of Japan’s army of 220,000 men, which is a little more than one-third of New York’s army of school children, will cost $35,000,000 or $40,000,000 at the most. The pay of a New York Superintendent of Schools is greater than the pay of a German general, and only slightly below that of a British commander of equal rank.
The eight associate superintendents in New York command larger brigades than any of the officers of equal rank in France, Germany or Austria-Hungary.
Public School No. 1, which is located in the most populous centre in the city—Catherine, Oliver and Henry streets—and which has 2,800 pupils on its roster, was thrown open at 9 o’clock yesterday morning. There is no other school like it in Manhattan, and its opening always has attracted the interest of educators.
In the boys’ department, during exercises, the principal cautioned the boys that only boys over ten would be allowed to sell newspapers, after school hours, and that each must get a license to do it.
“We are exceedingly crowded in the first grade,” said Mr. Veit, “but I do not think the school has greatly increased in numbers. The removal of houses for the erection of the Manhattan end of the Manhattan Bridge has taken out many families.
“We have four Chinese boys in this school. Teachers would never have nervous prostration if they had Chinese boys to teach. They have great respect and reverence for their teachers.”
All registration figures were broken in the Bronx, and when the schools opened every seat was filled. At the Morris High School, One Hundred and Sixth street and Boston road, of which John H. Denbeigh is principal, there were about three hundred new applicants. Mr. Denbeigh expects there will be about two thousand seven hundred pupils.
There was a distinct innovation in the inauguration of a school for deaf mutes in the old High School Building, at No. 235 East Twenty-third street. Superintendent Maxwell is greatly interested in the prospective work of the school. Although there are many deaf mute children, unschooled, in New York City, there were only sixty-five registered yesterday, owing to the fact that few persons knew that a deaf mutes’ school was to be opened.
Annie Hamilton, “stone deaf,” who a year ago could not distinguish a word or articulate a sound, was brought to the new school by an older brother.
Miss Regan extended her hand to the child and said: “Good morning, Annie; how are you?”
“Very well, thank you,” the child replied, indistinctly.
Miss Regan smiled and shook her head. Then she placed a finger at the child’s thorax and indicated that the vibrations were not as they should be.
“What is your name?” she asked.
“Annie Hamilton.” This time the reply was quite plain.
The questions of the teacher were understood by the reading of the lips.
NEW SCHOOLS
Chicago Herald
Two agencies designed to add to a boy’s “chance in the world” were opened in Chicago yesterday. One of them intends to train children in the rudiments of the art of earning a living; the other hopes to reclaim those who, through lack of economic equipment, have stumbled and fallen.
The first is the Pullman Free School of Manual Training, created under the terms of the will of George M. Pullman, millionaire car builder. The second is the vocational school for prisoners at the bridewell.
Ninety children, two-thirds of whom were boys, enrolled at the Pullman school. It is designed to provide free industrial training for those to whom circumstances otherwise might have denied it.
The bridewell school is operated in conjunction with the psychopathic hospital. Its plans were explained yesterday by John L. Whitman, superintendent of the prison.
“Many of the petty offenders against law are mental defectives,” he said. “Lacking mental grasp and manual efficiency, they soon find that the industrial world has no place open for them. The next step is crime. His sentence at the bridewell over, the boy returns to the world. Thus society punishes without removing the cause of the individual’s wrongdoing.
“By opening this school we hope so to train these boys that when they return to the world they will, by virtue of the training received at the bridewell, have at least the chance to do right.”
The enrollment at the bridewell school yesterday was twenty-five. It is a small beginning for a big ideal. The Pullman school is a big beginning for an even more worthy ideal—making the need of “reclaiming” unnecessary.
Mr. Pullman’s will contained a bequest of $1,250,000, to be used as a trust fund for the establishment of the school, his life’s dream. Trustees under the will invested the money wisely, for it since has grown until at present it aggregates more than $3,000,000.
Under the terms of the bequest the school is open free to “the children of persons living in or employed at Pullman.” Thus its benefits are not restricted to children of employes of the Pullman Company.
The courses to be taught will include cabinet work, pattern-making, blacksmithing, foundry work, machine shop work, electric construction and steam and electric operating, engineering, English, mathematics, drawing and household arts and sciences.
Kansas City Star
“Dummy! Dummy! Gee, but you’re a dummy!”
There are from 1,500 to 2,000 “dummies” in the public schools of Kansas City, it is estimated. They are the boys and girls who can’t have anything “drummed into their heads” and so are the laughing stock of their classmates. Between five and six hundred of them are feeble minded. A large per cent of the “dummies,” however, are not all around “dummies” and might be saved from becoming feeble minded and a menace to society.
“What are you going to do with them?”
That is the question Dr. E. L. Mathias, chief probation officer, is asking Kansas City.
“Kansas City has got to wake up to the situation,” said Doctor Mathias yesterday afternoon, in discussing the report of the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago. A resume of the report was printed in The Star of June 10. In that article the statement was made by one authority that the menace of the feeble minded was even more grave than a foreign war or a native pestilence.
“Kansas City is sixteen years behind the times in taking up this problem,” continued Doctor Mathias. “Boston was the first city to provide special training for its backward and feeble minded children. Other cities have followed suit and Kansas City must do the same. If numerous surveys in other cities have revealed a ratio of one feeble minded person to every 250 it is reasonable to suppose that a like condition exists in Kansas City.
“Most of the backward children in the schools are retarded by some physical defect or taint of feeble mindedness. A very small number of the mental defectives ought to be in institutions. But the largest per cent of the retarded children could be saved by being given special training in separate classes.
“The entire problem of the feeble minded is even more serious. Little can be done with the adults, except to place them in institutions. Yet much can be done with the present generation by directing the minds of the mental defectives into useful channels so that they will not become a burden on the community and a menace to society.”
The board of education is considering the problem and probably will start next fall in a small way with a separate class room and expert teachers.
READING IN SCHOOLS
Christian Science Monitor
Reading is to be given especial attention in the public schools of Boston again this winter in the hope that next June will see the finest lot of readers the schools of the city have ever produced.
Five points are to be especially observed: 1. Correct pronunciation of words at an acceptable rate of speed; 2. Expression of the meaning of what is read; 3. Distinct reading; 4. Pleasing use of the voice; 5. Ability to get the meaning of what is read silently.
Silent reading ability is to be made a point of special attention, as it calls for the application of the child’s mind to definite reasoning, which will in turn develop his mental powers.
In a circular now being sent out to masters of elementary districts by the assistant superintendent in charge, Mrs. Ellor Carlisle Ripley, and approved by Superintendent Dyer, they are requested to repeat this year the general plan pursued last year for increasing the interest in oral reading. They are then asked to devise ways and means of increasing the child’s power to get ideas from paragraphs read silently. The result is expected to be two fold—to make more intelligent and pleasing oral reading, and to develop in children a fondness for reading when it is done without the companionship of others.
As last year there are to be reading contests. On two occasions in the course of this school year in all grades above the third the children will hear, in their school hall or some other selected place, readers from their respective rooms. These readers are to be selected by means that will tend to improve the reading of all the pupils.
It is desired that the first series of readings will be concluded by Dec. 23 of this year, and that the second series be held during the week beginning March 27 next.
No centralized arrangement will be made this year for sending trained readers to the schools, but as all colleges of reading have expressed themselves as very ready to co-operate with the schools, it is believed the masters can secure readers at desired times.
Inter-district readings will begin April 25 and continue to June 1. Each school is requested to send one reader and one alternate reader to the inter-district reading assigned to his school. At these readings each child will be allowed three minutes for reading a familiar section supplied by his school. Sight reading will also be furnished and brief tests of silent reading will be made.
READING TESTS IN SCHOOLS
Chicago Herald
In the little red schoolhouse, if Johnnie was slow in reading he was put in a corner, where he held a ponderous volume, if he escaped corporal punishment.
Now if Johnnie is a pupil in the elementary department of the school of education at the University of Chicago he is sent to the reading clinic of Dr. C. Truman Gray.
Dr. Gray, former reading expert at the University of Texas, has been selected by Director Charles H. Judd to conduct an investigation here financed by the general education board of New York. Dr. Abraham Flexner, head of the Rockefeller educational body, is watching the investigation with interest.
At Dr. Gray’s clinic Johnnie will spend half an hour a day for five days. After Johnnie’s teacher has given Dr. Gray all the information she can about his vision, hearing, breathing and attention Johnnie will be given some reading tests.
When Johnnie has read several prose selections, each of increased difficulty; several bits of poetry of a similar gradation, and a bit of oratory he will be given a set of printed questions, to which he will write the answers, and then a number of printed stories, which he will read and reproduce.
A careful record of Johnnie’s time and his number of errors on each of these experiments will be kept.
Then Johnnie will be ready for the machines. He will be taken into a darkened room and a printed selection will be projected on a screen. As Johnnie reads the selection a blank phonograph record will record his performance, an elaborate camera will take pictures of his eye movements, and an instrument fastened over his chest will record his breathing.
A camera shutter device on the projecting machine will make it possible for the light to be shut off the screen at any point, and the number of words he can recall beyond the word he was pronouncing when the selection disappeared will show the area of his attention.
From the careful examination of these records Dr. Gray hopes to arrive at the causes of poor reading and to find remedies.
Dr. E. M. Freeman of the faculty of the school of education is conducting a parallel investigation into the teaching of writing in the school.
MEDICAL INSPECTION
New York Globe
The medical inspection of the public school children is unsatisfactory, according to the local school board of District 29, Brooklyn. This district lies within Flushing avenue, Marcy avenue, Myrtle avenue, Tompkins avenue, Lexington avenue, Sumner avenue, Fulton street, Albany avenue, Eastern Parkway, Washington avenue, Fulton street, and Waverly avenue. The members of the board have been “keeping tabs” on the doctors sent to the schools by the Board of Health. They have found little uniformity in the work, some visits lasting only a few minutes, and others a whole afternoon, while anywhere from nine to thirty pupils have been examined.
As a result of the investigation, the local board has submitted a report to the Board of Education suggesting that a more definite method of examination be required of the visiting physicians. The board states that it “found that there is no uniformity in their methods, except that they call daily at the schools assigned to them. The calls vary from five minutes to one and a half hours, and the number of children examined from one or two or none, to twenty or thirty per day. Some of the physicians visit the classrooms, and others see only the children who are reported by the teachers as needing attention.”
This is the second criticism of the medical inspection received by the Board of Education this summer, the first coming from the Principals’ Association of the City of New York, which forwarded resolutions to the effect “that the medical supervision of our schools is incomplete and generally unsatisfactory.”
While there is no marked indication of such an outcome at the present time, it would not be at all surprising if an attempt were made by certain of the members of the Board of Education to induce the board to take steps to take over the control of the medical inspection by establishing a department of school hygiene. This has been advocated by City Superintendent Maxwell and by Dr. Luther H. Gulick, director of physical training. While not as yet approved by the Board of Education, the proposition is under consideration by the Charter Revision Commission.
The recent criticisms of medical school inspection bear out those published by Dr. Maxwell in his latest annual report, in which he declared that “existing physical examinations made by the Department of Health are generally inadequate, and even when they are adequate are not followed by the desired results.” In support of this statement Dr. Maxwell quoted from principals’ reports to show that in only 248 schools—less than half the total number—were any examinations made for physical defects—as distinguished from examinations to detect contagious disease. In these 248 schools not more than one-third of the pupils were examined. It is only a few months since any examinations for physical defects were made outside of the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, and then only because of the criticisms emanating from the New York committee of physical welfare of school children.
PUBLIC LIBRARY
Milwaukee Sentinel
“In the thirty-seven years’ history of the Milwaukee public library we have never been able to trace a single case of contagious disease to a library book that had been passed from a home in which the disease existed to one hitherto free.”
This was the reply of J. V. Cargill, assistant librarian of the Milwaukee public library, to Dr. John Dill Robertson, health commissioner of Chicago, who has expressed the belief that library books are a medium for spreading such diseases as grippe, sore throat, measles, whooping cough, small pox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, tuberculosis and erysipelas. Dr. Robertson has sent a letter to Librarian Henry E. Legler of the Chicago public library asking co-operation in an effort to stamp out any danger of spreading diseases in this way.
According to Mr. Cargill every possible effort is made by the Milwaukee library to prevent the spread of disease. In this the officials co-operate with the Milwaukee health department. Daily lists of the homes in which contagious disease is found are furnished to the library, and books that are returned from such homes are fumigated in a large vault at the main library. When a health inspector visits a home in which there is contagious disease, one of his first questions is whether or not there are library books. If such books are found the cards identifying them are removed by the inspector and mailed to the library, according to Mr. Cargill. When the patient recovers and the health department fumigates the house, the library books are also fumigated as an added precaution.
The average book passing from home to home is never fumigated or otherwise disinfected, Mr. Cargill admitted, but he expressed doubt that any diseases were spread by such books.
Among the ways in which Dr. Robertson of Chicago says disease may be spread are the following: Dampening the fingers to turn pages, placing books open side downward upon a bed, coughing or sneezing upon the pages or giving books to convalescent patients.
MUSEUM
New York Times
Rain gods, storm charms, rattles to make the thunder come, strange amulets which invite the lightning, more than five hundred devices in all which the Zuni Indians believe open up the sluice-ways of the skies, were unpacked early yesterday morning at the American Museum of Natural History.
They had just come from New Mexico, where they had been collected for the museum by Dr. A. L. Kroeber of the University of California, who at great trouble and expense had induced the bad weather gods to come east. About the time the lid came off the first packing case the wind carried sheets of water against the attic where the collection is now on view and the tempest howled and shrieked until the little rain gods themselves shook under the hurly burly out-of-doors. The water god, Long Horn, rolled over to where the flower god was lying, and shook himself for very joy, for he felt that the man tribe of this great city would certainly be very thankful for all the downpour.
It is so dry in the venerable town of the cliff dwellers, Zuni, that most of the time the streets are filled with dust, and top stories of the old cliff dwellings powder up and blow away in all directions. The Indians have lived there for 365 years without being in any way affected by the manners and customs of the white men, according to Dr. Kroeber, who has just come from a residence of several months among them. Even though the United States Government has made a big reservoir and dug irrigation ditches for the Zunis, they still keep up their primitive worship, which revolves around the prayer, “Gods, give us rain.” As the tribe lives almost entirely upon the maize it raises, the ceremonies of rain-making bear an important part in its life. Most of the conversation of the Zunis consists of “Do you think there will be a shower?” and “Neighbor, how is your corn growing?”
In many centuries there has been built up a ritual for the worship of the sky gods which is very intricate and mysterious and includes many secret observances. The study which Professor Kroeber has made is a very important one, for he will be able to describe observances about which little has been known. Many of the sacred symbols in his possession were acquired after much trouble and not a little risk, for the Zunis have an unwritten law that no white man is to have any of the objects used in their ceremonies, and that any one parting with them is entitled to have his throat cut.
The rain gods are dressed in fantastic garb, and the clash of their primitive hues can be heard at a great distance. One of the symbols of the lightning is a blue pantagraphlike arrangement of lattice work which suddenly opens out to represent the quick discharge of the bolts of the gods. There are charms made like the forked flashes placed over the doors to invite the showers. In the great dances the participants wear wooden headgear carved to represent cloud forms and the moon and stars. Every creature which loves the wet is worked into the symbolism of Zuni worship. There are tadpoles, frogs, turtles, ducks, and geese, all of which are represented by the masks worn when the invocations to the gods of the rain are given.
There are rattles made of shells, which, attached to the knees, make a prodigious noise. Peculiar spindle-like devices attached to long thongs may be swung about the head until they give a sound which to the Zuni imagination suggests the roll of thunder. One of the most valuable articles of the new collection is a bowl, probably of the period before Columbus came to this continent, which is notched all around with a step-like device, typifying the clouds and adorned with raised figures of fish and polliwogs and ducks. It is filled with water when the rain dances are given, and a mass of suds is made in it by adding soap weed. The priest stirs up the mixture with his hands, and the lather brimming over the sides of the bowl gives the effect of fleecy clouds.
The collection, which is one of the most important ever brought out of the Southwest, is to be arranged by Dr. Kroeber, who has obtained a leave of absence from the University of California for that purpose. He was kept in the Museum all day by the snow, sleet, and rain.
MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS
Boston Transcript
Traffic conditions are regarded as so dangerous at the corner of Tremont and School streets, on account of the laying of the high-pressure pipes, that the mayor has ordered the contractor to work night and day, with forces as large as practicable, until the work is finished.
The mayor was informed of the situation when he arrived at City Hall this morning and immediately made a personal inspection. He found large piles of dirt at each corner of School street and wagons used by the contractor so placed in receiving their loads that at times it was practically impossible for vehicular traffic to move at all. School street is one of the one-way thoroughfares and the volume of traffic that moves into it at the corner of Tremont, from both Tremont and Beacon streets, is very large at certain times of the day. Under the best conditions dangers are daily presented with swiftly moving automobiles coming down Beacon Hill, either to make the turn or to move straight ahead. It will probably be necessary to close School street some time this week, and, in fact, many persons declared today that such an order might prevent a serious accident, with conditions continuing as they are at present.
The laying of the high-pressure pipes along Tremont street has been anything but agreeable to the contractor. The various underground wires and conduits of the public service corporations are ordinarily well placed in the files, but the ground beneath the asphalt of this thoroughfare contained numerous obstacles which were not anticipated by the city engineers who planned for the new system.
At the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets the contractor found that, in order to carry the pipes in accordance with the blue prints, a huge two-foot main conduit of the gas company would have to be shifted. This caused much delay and it will be weeks before the changes will be made to satisfy the city authorities. Today a large space on the surface was boarded. Then followed the every-day difficulties encountered by the laborers in digging up the ties of the old street railway, which were not removed when the line was banished from the street.
Today the laborers met with a still greater surprise when they encountered solid rock, brick and concrete obstructions far beneath the surface, and also deeply imbedded piles which had remained in the earth for scores of years and which do not appear on any blue print of the street that the City Hall records contain. It was learned, however, that the tunnels of brick and concrete were parts of an old steam-heating system installed many years ago by a company that planned to heat buildings at much less cost to the occupants than could possibly be done by individual plants. These operations were of short duration, and when they were given up, the city authorities failed to oblige the removal of the tunnels, which are eight feet beneath the surface and of no hindrance to the other underground works.
The laborers are also digging up today the remnants of the physical property of the old Massachusetts Telephone Company, which existed nearly twenty years ago.
Springfield Republican
Co-operation between the city and the public service corporations to a greater extent than before in order to prevent the tearing up of newly laid pavement is expected to result from the Dickinson-street case, in which a pavement that has been down only two years is being broken open so that the United electric light company can put in its conduits. Samuel L. Wheeler, inspector of underground wires and conduits, who prescribes what wires shall be put underground each year, will try to place before the public service associates the plans for his work a year or more in advance. Thus the companies will have a chance to get their wires underground before the streets are paved.
Mr Wheeler is obliged by law to order a mile of wire put underground each year in order that eventually all wires within a two-mile radius of the City hall shall be underground. In his 15 years of work this is the first time that such a situation as that on Dickinson street has arisen. Superintendent Fred H. Clark of the department of streets and engineering said yesterday that no one is really to blame, since the street had to be paved when it was, and it was impossible at the time to order the wires underground before the paving was put down. The electric light company has expressed its willingness to co-operate in every way that it can. The supervisors have ordered the paving of Pine street and between Cedar and Walnut streets the company’s wires are still above ground. Although Mr Wheeler has not ordered these wires to be put underground, the company has said it will try to get them under even though its appropriation for this work has been made for the year.
The supervisors and the street railway officials will confer this afternoon to plan for the relaying of tracks so that the work will precede street paving. The company intends to relay its tracks on Main street between the arch and the car barns and on Chestnut street between Allendale street and Jefferson avenue. Paving is to be done on these streets but it will follow the track work. The company does not want to relay its tracks on State street near the New England railroad, however, although the city wants to pave there, and a similar situation may arise on other streets where the company thinks its tracks good for a year or two longer. It is to consider these situations that the conference will be held.
NEW MUNICIPAL EQUIPMENT
Boston Transcript
Bursting water mains are not so great a menace in Boston since the water department installed a motor truck with a power appliance for quickly closing the heavy gates. Work which formerly required four men, laboring continuously for forty-five minutes, can be done in ten minutes by using the power of the truck. This mechanical device, an invention of George H. Finneran, superintendent of the distribution branch of the water department, not only conserves the water supply and reduces the damage due to breaks, but permits of rapid regulation of water volume at fires, facilitates the testing of gates and relieves the anxiety always attending derangement or damage to the water system.
In one of Boston’s most important thoroughfares, lined with costly buildings, there is a water main which, if completely broken apart, would allow the escape of 50,000 gallons of water each minute. Controlling this line are gate valves thirty-six inches in diameter which, in closing, require 307 turns of a gate wrench and, formerly, the services of four men for about forty-five minutes. A few minutes’ delay sometimes meant the loss of life and thousands of dollars. These gates, the largest in the city, can now be closed in ten minutes by one man and the motor truck, which was built for the purpose by the White Company of Cleveland.
The truck is required to respond to fire alarms and other emergencies where water must be controlled to prevent loss or damage. The calls are frequently overlapping, and crews are on duty day and night. The runs vary from one block to the farthest end of the water system. Under the old scheme, when several gates had to be closed, the few men available at night were almost exhausted before shutting the last gate. By its ability to work continuously the truck has relieved the fear of being unable to cope with any emergency.
The gate-closing device consists of a universal wrench socket with a worm gear, enclosed in an aluminum housing and mounted on the running board of the truck, so that it can be easily brought into position immediately over a water-gate manhole. When the truck is in position a wrench is slipped through the socket. This wrench fits the nut on the gate-gear below. The universal wrench socket, together with a universal joint on the end of the wrench, affords sufficient flexibility in case the truck is not on level ground, or in case the wrench socket is not directly over the gate nut. It is an easy matter, however, for the driver to bring his truck into the exact position.
The worm gear is driven off the regular transmission of the truck. The device is operated by a lever placed upon the side of the truck and easily accessible to the driver. In closing gates the forward speeds of the transmission are used. In opening the reverse is used. All gears are made of chrome or nickel steel. All bearings are ball bearings. The aluminum housing is firmly bolted to the frame of the chassis and well braced to resist torque. The wrench is a hollow square steel tube terminating in a specially hardened steel socket with universal joint between socket and tube.
The gates are equipped with indicators showing the position of the valve and informing the operator when the valve is seated or entirely opened. Where indicators have not been attached to the gates a counter is used. This counter is placed on the end of the wrench recording the number of its revolutions. This helps the operator to determine when the valve is entirely up or down. As a means of safety in the event of the valve seating with force or before the operator expected, a pin of known strength, placed in the universal joint of the wrench, breaks off and breaks the line of force between the engine and the gate, thus preventing damage to either the gate or the gate-operating device.
SAFETY CAMPAIGN
New York Herald
With the belief that Long Island will be the touring ground for more motor cars this summer than ever before, largely on account of the European war, James A. McCrea, general manager of the Long Island Railroad, has announced the beginning of a campaign of sign display asking the public to co-operate with the railroad in saving human life.
Enormous signs, 2½×10 feet, electrically illuminated at night, will be stretched across the highways, in many cases attached to the structure of the modern overhead crossings, making a plea to the motorists as they speed under them to be careful in approaching and passing over the grade crossings that still remain on the main highways of the island. The railroad has eliminated more than three hundred grade crossings at an expense of 15 million dollars, and yet fatal accidents occur in some places where there is a wide open view of the railroad in both directions. There are still 631 grade crossings between New York City and Montauk Point. Of these more than three hundred are guarded by gate-men, two at some points, at a cost to the railroad of $25,000 a month.
Careful motorists do not combat in the least the statement, frequently made by the railroad officers, that many of the fatal grade crossing accidents on Long Island were the result, pure and simple, of the motorists’ recklessness. Many of them drive too carelessly over the crossings, the officers maintain, assuming all the time that the locomotive driver is looking out for them. Mutual watchfulness is observed in the city, and it is contended that the same should be true in the country.
Ten great signs already have been erected at prominent points, where they cannot fail to attract the attention of motorists. They are in black and white letters that may be read several blocks away. They caution:
THIS SIGN MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE TODAY.
All the precautions in the world will not save the lives of those who drive automobiles recklessly over railroad crossings.
When approaching a crossing please stop, look and listen.
We are doing our part. Won’t you do yours?
LONG ISLAND RAILROAD.
Mr. McCrea says the grade crossing problem has been a stupendous one, particularly since the advent of the motor car. He is open to suggestions that will eliminate the danger at any point and immediately accepted two that were made to him by persons interested only in the safety of the public in general. One was in reference to a dangerous crossing, now guarded by men and lights, but where the conformation of the ground so places the lights that they are practically valueless as a warning. The other was in reference to the color of the gates used by the Long Island Railroad and all others in this country. The universal custom in this country is to paint the gates white.
In Europe, particularly in Germany and Austria, all the railroad gates, toll gates and custom house gates are painted black and white. They can be seen for long distances and are almost as easily observed in the night as in the day.
Not only is the railroad putting up signs calling the attention of motorists to the danger of driving recklessly over grade crossings; it will conduct an advertising campaign with a series of “life saving bulletins.” These will appear regularly and will plead for greater care on the part of motorists. One of its “life saving bulletins” will read in part:
- Watch for the flagman’s lantern.
- Listen for the warning bell.
- Slow down.
- Look up and down the rails.
We are doing all that time and money permits in abolishing grade crossings. Will you help us end accidents by doing your share?
BUSINESS MERGER
Milwaukee Sentinel
Through a deal involving about $400,000, the Milwaukee-Western Fuel company has bought out entirely the docks, property and business of the Northwestern Fuel company’s Milwaukee branch.
The big merger has been pending for a year. Agreement was finally reached on Wednesday, although details were not arranged until Saturday. The Milwaukee-Western will take full possession on Monday.
It is in no sense a consolidation. As far as Milwaukee business is concerned the Northwestern Fuel company has ceased to exist. As one of its Milwaukee officials remarked after the deal was closed, “They have swallowed us whole, head and tail.”
The Northwestern company was one of the oldest coal firms in Milwaukee, having had offices here for thirty-two years. In sales it did a yearly business in the city of about $2,000,000.
The deal brings a great amount of valuable property into the hands of the Milwaukee-Western Fuel company. Its bought out rival had on hand about 75,000 tons of coal. It possessed two large coal docks. One, at the foot of Washington street, with two slips on the Kinnickinnic river, is 1,000x500 feet in size. This dock is on the Chicago and North-Western road. The other is at the foot of Seventeenth street and has 1,000 feet frontage on the Menomonee river. It is on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul road.
The capacity of the two docks combined is estimated at 150,000 tons of anthracite and 200,000 tons of bituminous coal. Their loading capacity aggregates 150 cars a day.
The Milwaukee offices of the Northwestern Fuel company were at 152 Second street. For a time they will be used by the Milwaukee-Western company as a branch office. The Northwestern will also use them until its affairs are settled. Whether the offices will be continued as a branch of the Milwaukee-Western Fuel company’s big offices at 14 Wisconsin street has not yet been determined.
Under the terms of the deal the purchaser will assume responsibility for all unfilled contracts of the Northwestern company. The Milwaukee-Western expects to be able to give positions to nearly all the Milwaukee employes of the Northwestern.
The deal makes the Milwaukee-Western Fuel company sole agents in this city for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western road’s Scranton anthracite and standard hard coal, for which the Northwestern Fuel company was also agent.
Officers of the Milwaukee-Western say that the change will increase their company’s business by from 300,000 to 400,000 tons yearly.
The headquarters of the Northwestern Fuel company are in St. Paul, and it has big docks in Duluth and Superior. Its chief business lies in that section of the country. This will remain unimpaired, for the present deal affects only the Milwaukee branch.
The officers of the Milwaukee-Western Fuel company are: President, Edward A. Uhrig; vice president, Alexander Uhrig; secretary and treasurer, Charles W. Moody.
NEW FEATURE IN MANUFACTURING
Chicago Tribune
This is the story of a world war, a despairing manufacturer, and a cow’s ear.
The despairing manufacturer shall be nameless here. In Chicago and all over the country his name is well known as one of the greatest makers of water color paint in America.
The part taken by the world war is told in the trade columns, where its effects on industry in the United States have been vividly shown. The cow’s ear belonged to a cow that may have been called “Boss” or “Bess,” but that isn’t so important.
The agency that overcame the world war, that soothed the manufacturer, that found the cow’s ear and introduced the two shall receive its deserved mention—it was the Chicago Association of Commerce.
It was more than a month ago that the water color paint manufacturer came to the civic industrial division of the Commerce association and told of his business woes.
“We are about to shut down on account of the war,” he said. “We can send out no more paint to our trade. For years we have supplied them with an imported water color paint brush with each box.
“The brushes are made in Germany. It is a secret process. They use either camel’s hair or rabbit’s hair of a fine quality. They are excellent brushes. Our trade is demanding them. We have none left. We can get no more on account of the war. We shall have to close down.”
Anderson Pace, industrial commissioner for the association, told the manufacturer to hold on a little longer. He started inquiries in all lines known to the association. The country was ransacked for imported water color brushes, and all to no avail.
Then the investigators, right here in Chicago, and without wasting a postage stamp, got in communication with a stockyards savant who was the originator of the boast that “none of the pig escaped but the squeal.”
“The most tender, delicate, yet strong and soft hair in the world is to be found only in a cow’s ear,” said the stockyards genius. “Camel’s hair and imported rabbit’s hair can’t touch it for quality. It makes the best water color brushes that can be made.”
At the stockyards today men with shears are snipping the tender hairs from Bossy’s ears as the bodies of the slain animals are conveyed from the killing pens. In New York a broker has made arrangements with a brush manufacturer, who is putting out an article that artists say fits itself much more readily to the application of water color than the old brushes imported from Germany.
In Chicago the nameless great manufacturer of water color paint despairs no more. His plant is running, his force is busy, his employés are happy, and the orders are coming just the same as before the war.
REAL ESTATE
Chicago Tribune
Another of the old exclusive homes in the one time fashionable block on Prairie avenue between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, is to be given over to business uses, the Arthur Meeker residence at 1815, which has been purchased by D. C. Heath & Co., school book publishers. The conveyance was made by Mrs. Grace M. Meeker, and a consideration of $35,000 is named in the deed, which was filed for record yesterday.
The house, which is a large, attractive three story stone structure, was erected by Joseph Sears about thirty years ago, and about ten years ago was purchased by Mr. Meeker and extensively remodeled by him. It contains twenty-one rooms. It occupies a lot 75x140 feet extending back to a twenty foot alley, and there is a large garage in the rear.
The Heath company, which is the third largest school book publishing house in the country, and is now located in the Studebaker building on South Wabash avenue, will locate their business at their Prairie avenue purchase about March 1, using the house for their general offices, and the garage, which will be enlarged, for their stock room. The sale was negotiated by Eugene A. Bournique & Co.
REAL ESTATE
Philadelphia Ledger
The six and a half acre plot of ground at 5th and Cayuga streets, which has been used as a picnic park for a number of years, under the name of Central Park, has been sold by S. C. Abernethy for Joseph S. Slomkowski to a builder, who will begin the work of developing the ground in the spring by the erection of about 30 houses on the 5th street front and 65 houses on Reese street. The price paid for the ground was close to $60,000. Practically all of the tract has been sold with the exception of a small section south of Cayuga street. The seller reserves for his own use a plot of ground 120 feet by 130 feet at the corner of 5th and Cayuga streets, on which he will build a new hotel. The ground sold has a frontage of more than 700 feet on the west side of 5th street to Annsbury street, with a frontage of 307 feet on Cayuga street to the North Penn Railroad, and a frontage of 400 feet on the north boundary. The sale is the largest transaction in ground made in this section of the city for several years. Central Park has for years been a favorite picnic ground during the summer, particularly with labor organizations.
PROPOSED NEW HOTEL
Boston Transcript
Another large hotel, to cost about $1,250,000, is to be erected in the retail section of the city, at the corner of Washington and Avery streets. The Commonwealth Associates, Inc., who acquired title to the land last month, have let the contract for the construction of an eleven-story building to the Haynes Construction Company. Clarence H. Blackall is the architect and Hurd & Gore are the consulting architects. Morse Brothers have taken a lease of the hotel for a period of twenty years.
With the exception of the Washington street frontage and about 100 feet fronting on Avery street, which will be used for stores, the entire building will be devoted to the purposes of a first-class commercial hotel. On the first floor will be the office, reading-room, large public dining-room and buffet. In the basement, under the corner of Haymarket place and Avery street, there will be a rathskeller, entered both from the hotel and from the street, with the kitchens, serving-rooms, etc., in the rear, under the hotel lobby. A sub-basement will contain storerooms, machinery, heating plant, etc.
The second floor will be largely taken up by another public dining-room, banquet-room, etc., the remainder of the building being given over to guest rooms, with the exception of the eleventh story, which will contain specially fitted sample-rooms for commercial travellers. The rooms will be unusually spacious, with convenient alcoves for beds. Large windows will light the room proper and the alcove. The finish will be of carefully selected Missouri red gum, stained a rich mahogany.
The building will be fireproof in every particular, and will be constructed in accordance with the most approved methods, practically no wood being used except for the doors and windows. All floors will be of concrete, with tile and marble-finished flooring in the public rooms and corridors, tiling in all the bathrooms and carpets elsewhere. The building will be heated and ventilated in an approved manner and furnished with all the electrical appliances. The elevators and stairs will be centrally located, so as to give immediate access to all parts of the house.
The exterior will be of limestone and brick in the style of the French Renaissance, which effect will be carried through the decorations and finish of the principal rooms. A broad marquise finished in bronze will mark the entrance of the hotel proper and extend along the whole frontage. A service entrance will be at the rear on Haymarket place.
Leases for the stores have already been arranged on long terms with David H. Posner and Coes & Young, both of whom have stores in other parts of the city. The Commonwealth Associates, Inc., owners of the property, were organized through the office of Codman & Street, Easton Building, with George U. Crocker, president; Max Shoolman, vice president, and Gerald G. E. Street, treasurer.
MUNICIPAL BOND SALE
Springfield Republican
City Treasurer E. T. Tifft yesterday surprised himself and financial experts as well by selling a bond issue of $1,000,000 at remarkably good terms, in spite of the tying up of money by war conditions. The issue was sold to N. W. Harris & Co of Boston, who will pay the city a premium of $5670, bringing the interest rate down to 4.30 per cent. This rate is less than one-half of 1 per cent higher than the rate for last year’s issue, and congratulations are coming to the city and to the city treasurer on this success from many financial men who have been looking with interest on this issue as the first test of the bond market since the war began.
The bid of the winning company was 100.567, while the second bid was made by the Third national bank of this city offering 100.44. E. H. Rollins Sons, A. B. Leach & Co, Perry, Coffin & Burr, and Blake Bros & Co, all of Boston, made a joint bid for the issue which was third, the bid being 100.176. Of the $1,000,000 there was $200,000 on the municipal building loan paying 4 per cent, and the remaining $800,000 is in 4½ per cent bonds. The issue was made up of the following loans: Municipal building loan, 20 years, 4 per cent, $200,000; high school of commerce, 20 years, 4½ per cent, $150,000; Fulton-street loan, 20 years, 4½ per cent, $400,000; Myrtle-street school addition, 20 years, 4½ per cent, $136,000; land for school, Franklin and Greenwood streets, 20 years, 4½ per cent, $64,000; Brightwood school addition, 20 years, 4½ per cent, $25,000; Walnut-street engine house addition, 20 years, 4½ per cent, $25,000; total, $1,000,000.
The rate at which these bonds were sold shows that the state of the money market is not as far from normal as was feared by many people, and at the same time an opportunity is given to local people to invest in the city bonds at a price which will bring them a better return than can be obtained on the issues in usual times. These bonds are tax exempt, the exemption extending to the federal income tax. Interest on municipal bonds is collectible without certificates of ownership and individuals are not required to report the income to the federal government. The successful bidders, N. W. Harris & Co, are represented in this city by Percy O. Dorr, who has offices in the Massachusetts Mutual building.
The Boston News Bureau, commenting on the sale, says: “The sale of $1,000,000 bonds to N. W. Harris & Co by the city of Springfield to-day is striking evidence of a revival of confidence in the bond market. The bankers are offering the bonds on the following bases: For the 4½’s, 1915 maturity, 4¼ per cent basis; 1916–1919, 4.20 per cent basis; 1920–1934, 4.15 per cent basis. For the 4’s, 1915 maturity, 4¼ per cent basis; 1916–1919, 4.20 per cent basis; 1920–1954, at 99. To gain some idea of the attractive level at which these bonds are being sold, compared with prices for previous issues, it need only be remembered that in 1913 the city obtained a 3.88 per cent basis for an issue of bonds, a 3.81 per cent basis in 1912 and a 3.51 per cent basis in 1911. The current sale is the most important bit of public financing which has been accomplished in the local market since the war began. It is more than ordinarily significant that one of the biggest New England banking houses should take hold of this Springfield issue at a time when the bond market is suffering more or less from excessive timidity. It serves the double purpose of providing for the financial needs of one of New England’s largest cities and of creating a little interest in the bond market on a basis which is fair both to the city and to the investor. There is evidence of returning courage and confidence.”
RAILROAD DIVIDEND
Chicago Tribune
Directors of the Pennsylvania company declared yesterday a semi-annual dividend of 1 per cent as against the usual dividend of 4 per cent at this time of the year. Since 1910 the Pennsylvania company has paid 7 per cent yearly, divided into two semi-annual installments of 3 per cent in the first half and 4 per cent in the second half of the year.
The issued capital of the Pennsylvania company is $80,000,000. The annual disbursement has been, since 1910, $5,600,000 annually. This year, however, the company has declared only 4 per cent, or $3,200,000, so that the reduced amount of dividends is $2,400,000.
The Pennsylvania company operates all the lines of the Pennsylvania system west of Pittsburgh. All the stock of the Pennsylvania company is owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad company, and to the latter corporation all the dividends have been paid.
The outstanding capital stock of the Pennsylvania Railroad company is $499,265,700. The annual dividends from the Pennsylvania company have been equal to something over 1 per cent on the capital stock of the Pennsylvania Railroad company, and the cut made yesterday in dividends is equal to about ½ per cent on the railroad company’s stock. The railroad company pays its shareholders 6 per cent per annum, this rate having obtained since 1908. The railroad company’s earnings last year, that is, 1913, were 8.02 per cent on the share capital.
The 5 per cent raise in freight rates granted by the interstate commerce commission was denied to coal, coke and iron ore. The coal and coke business of the Pennsylvania system amounts to about one-third of the company’s gross business and on that no advance will be received.
In connection with the reduction of the Pennsylvania company’s dividend, the directors issued a statement saying that the cut was due “chiefly to a large decrease in traffic and a material reduction in the revenues of the lines west of Pittsburgh.”
Meanwhile the directors of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, one of the controlled lines of the Pennsylvania company, met and decided not to consider the semi-annual dividend distribution until the next meeting of the board, on Dec. 30.
RETAIL PRICE OF BEEF
Boston Herald
That there is no truth in the report emanating from Chicago to the effect that the record-breaking drought in Kansas will cause the retail prices of beef to go to unheard of prices in the winter, is the declaration of local provision dealers. It is their opinion that, as the dry spell is only in certain sections of Kansas, it cannot affect materially the prices in the East.
There has been no increase in prices lately, they further declare, and certain choice cuts are, in fact, a great deal lower than at this time last year. The choicest cuts in sirloin steak are more than 10 cents lower than they were in 1912 and other cuts are in the same proportion.
“There is no danger of the prices of beef being raised in the winter in the East,” declared a local representative of a large packing house. “There need be no fear that the steady rush of cattle to the big live stock markets of the middle West will materially raise the prices here. In fact, the prices are lower on some cuts than last year and I see no reason why they should not continue to stand at the same price. One must remember that the drought is confined only to certain sections of the state of Kansas and that other sections of the country are not affected. If there is a raise in prices it will be confined only to those immediate regions where the drought is.”
That the packers are making fortunes during the dry spell is also denied by the local dealers. While live stock prices are to a certain extent lower now, the wholesale prices on the average have also decreased and the housewife is getting the benefit of it, is their assertion. They further declare that the packers make a small profit at best and also that the retailers’ profit is not great, as they have unusually heavy expenses.
LOCAL MARKET PRICES
Boston Transcript
Peaches, peaches, and then more peaches, meet the eye of the visitor to the market section in these closing days of summer. Little baskets, big baskets, crates and carriers full of the luscious fruit are displayed everywhere. Wholesale prices are reasonable, as usual when the crop is large, but prices at retail rarely fall below a certain level. This is one of the hard things for the layman to understand, why a big crop does not bring low prices. Wholesalers say that the retailers are to blame, and the latter say that they cannot afford to handle the fruit except with a generous margin of profit. The consumer thinks that the retailer ought to be content with something less than 100 per cent profit.
Current supplies of peaches are coming from widely separated points. Few California peaches are now offered, and most of the Georgia crop has also been marketed, but West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut are shipping freely to this market. In late years much of the New Jersey crop has been shipped into the convenient markets of New York and Philadelphia. In this market New Jersey peaches have to compete sharply with Connecticut grown fruit, and, as freights from Connecticut are less than from New Jersey, the former have a manifest advantage. Freights and packing cost the New Jersey farmer about 50 cents for an ordinary peach basket, and more for a six basket carrier, which is now the favorite way of shipping fine table fruit. As a full basket of Connecticut peaches can be had at retail at 75 cents to $1, there is not much margin for the more distant shipper. New Jersey fruit does not stand up for shipping so well as other varieties.
When one goes into the market for peaches, one finds a wide variety of qualities and packages. As a rule, early peaches are clingstones and late peaches are freestones. The latter have manifest advantages, but when they are desired care should be taken to see that the buyer gets what is wanted. One needs to remember that freestones from Georgia and the South may be selling side by side with clingstones from farther North. Sweetness and flavor should also be insisted upon, while it is always a mistake to buy half-rotten fruit because it is cheap. By the dozen, good peaches can be bought for 10 to 25 cents. The small baskets that come in the carriers bring 40 to 50 cents, while old-fashioned peach baskets sell at 75 cents to $1.25. West Virginia is shipping peaches in bushel baskets, a shape first made familiar by Michigan shippers. That state has not yet begun shipments, but they will come later. These large baskets cost $1.25 to $1.75 wholesale, and about $1.50 to $2.25 at retail.
While peaches have the right of way at this season, other fall fruits are being freely offered, especially crabapples and plums. “Crabs” were selling in North Market street Wednesday at 50 cents a bushel, but housekeepers are paying at the rate of $1.60 a bushel by the peck. Another case of “quick sales and small profits”? Native preserving plums are selling at 25 to 40 cents a basket. Damsons and damson plums are in the market, and sell at 30 to 40 cents. This is a great year for New England apple and plum orchards, and, in fact, fruit of all kinds will be plentiful and cheap. Exports of apples from this country are likely to be materially lessened by the war, and the surplus fruit must be absorbed by home markets. Apple men are talking $1 a barrel as probably the wholesale price in this market later. Just now small lots of apples are selling at 40 to 50 cents a peck for cooking and 50 to 60 cents for table fruit.
Blueberries from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are still in the market and sell at 18 to 20 cents, watermelons bring 50 to 60 cents each and cantaloupes 8 to 10 cents each. California plums sell at 40 to 60 cents a basket, Bartlett pears at 20 to 30 cents a dozen, California grapes at 40 to 50 cents a basket for Malagas and seedless and 50 to 60 cents for Tokays. Native grapes sell at 15 to 20 cents for Delawares and black varieties.
Summer vegetables are in seasonable supply, and low prices are quoted for most varieties. Green corn is selling at 20 to 25 cents a dozen ears, early celery at 15 cents, green peas at 65 to 75 cents a peck, string beans at 5 to 8 cents a quart, shell beans at 8 cents for Limas and horticultural, cauliflower at 10 to 20 cents each, cucumbers at 5 cents each, egg plant at 15 to 20 cents, tomatoes at 8 to 10 cents a pound, mushrooms at $1 to $1.25 a pound, white potatoes at 25 to 30 cents a peck, sweet potatoes at 5 cents a pound, onions at 8 cents a quart for native, 8 cents a pound for Spanish and 18 cents a quart for small white pickling, squash at 4 cents a pound for marrow, 5 cents each for summer and 20 to 25 cents each for vegetable marrow, cabbage at 8 to 15 cents each, beets at 8 cents a quart, carrots at 3 cents a pound, turnips at 5 cents and parsnips at 8 cents. Salad vegetables are unchanged, lettuce still selling at 5 cents and other vegetables at 5 to 8 cents.
Prices of lamb have declined, and a cash customer can now get a good hind leg or hind-quarter at 22 cents, though a charge customer who is particular about quality will have to pay 25 cents. Forequarters are selling at 14 cents, sides at 20 to 21 cents, loins at 25 cents and chops at 38 to 40 cents. Mutton is unchanged at 18 cents for loins, 11 to 12 cents for forequarters, 25 to 28 cents for chops and 18 cents for “hung” legs. Veal cuts are selling at 40 cents for fillet, 45 cents for steak, 30 cents for chops and 22 cents for loins.
Beef prices are easier at wholesale, but retail prices are still firmly held at 33 to 38 cents for sirloin steak, 40 to 50 cents for rump steak and 25 to 35 cents for round steak. Roasting pieces sell at 35 cents for the back of the rump, 25 cents for the face, 25 to 30 cents for the first cut of the rib and 20 to 25 cents for the second cut. Corned pieces are selling at 25 cents for brisket, 18 cents for rib, 18 cents for the sticking piece and 10 cents for flank.
Pork provisions are selling at 25 cents for pork loins, 22 to 25 cents for whole hams, 30 to 35 cents for sliced ham, 25 cents for bacon, 17 cents for smoked, corned, pickled and fresh shoulders, 15 cents for salt pork, 22 to 25 cents for sausages, 16 cents for Frankfurters, 15 to 18 cents for lard, 10 to 12 cents for pigs’ feet, 12 to 20 cents for tripe, 25 to 30 cents for tongue, 45 cents for dried beef, 15 to 16 cents for beef liver, 30 cents to $1 each for sweetbreads, and 50 to 90 cents each for calves’ liver.
At the poultry stalls trade is quiet, as usual at this season. Fall trade has not yet begun in earnest. Native roasting chickens are selling at 35 cents, Western chickens at 28 cents, Philadelphia capons at 38 cents, Western capons at 30 to 32 cents, native broilers at 30 cents, Western broilers at 28 cents, hothouse broilers at $1.25 a pair, frozen turkeys at 30 to 32 cents, native fowl at 25 cents, Western fowl at 23 to 25 cents, spring ducklings at 25 cents, spring geese at 28 cents, broiler turkeys at $3 to $3.50 a pair, squab at 35 to 50 cents each, and pigeons at $3 a dozen.
Butter and eggs have not been advanced further, but prices are very firm. Northern creamery butter in tubs sells at 38 cents, and in boxes at 40 cents, with individual prints at 40 cents, unsalted prints at 50 cents, Western creamery in tubs at 35 cents and Vermont dairy at 33 cents in tubs and 33 to 35 cents in boxes. High prices have promoted the use of both butter and eggs from cold storage. Total stocks in local cold storage warehouses at last report were 300,191 packages, against 299,020 packages a week ago and 321,303 packages a year ago.
Eggs are firm and unchanged, best hennery stock being quoted at 45 cents, Eastern at 40 cents, Western at 33 cents and storage at 32 cents. Total stocks of eggs in local cold storage warehouses at last report were 399,589 cases, against 402,004 cases a week ago and 490,945 cases at the same time last year.
Large mackerel are scarce and high, but medium mackerel are to be had at 25 cents each and small mackerel at 18 cents. Spanish mackerel sell at 25 cents, Eastern salmon at 30 to 35 cents, Western salmon at 20 to 25 cents, smelts at 30 to 35 cents, bluefish at 15 cents, weakfish at 15 cents, striped bass at 35 cents, black bass at 18 cents, butterfish at 12½ cents, scup at 15 cents, tautog at 12 cents, swordfish at 25 cents, halibut at 25 to 30 cents, cod and haddock at 8 cents, brook trout at 75 cents, flounders at 10 to 12 cents, eels at 18 cents, sea perch at 20 cents a dozen.
Oysters are in season again, but it needs cool weather as well as an “r” in the month to bring about a demand. Providence River sell at 45 cents and Cotuits at 75 cents. New York scallops are in the market and sell at $1 a quart, though the close time is not yet off in this State. Lobsters are selling at 33 cents for live chicken, 35 cents for large live and 40 cents for large boiled, soft-shell crabs at $1 a dozen, little necks at 30 cents a dozen or $1.75 a peck, clams at 30 cents a quart shucked or 50 cents in the shell by the peck, and quahogs at 60 cents a quart shucked. Finnan haddie sells at 12 cents.
HOTEL STORY
New York Herald
When a clerk at the desk of Bretton Hall picked up the desk telephone in response to a ring about nine o’clock last Friday evening he caught the words of the operator to a man in one of the rooms.
“Indeed, I don’t know what you want, sir,” she was saying; “but here’s the clerk. You can explain to him.”
“If they’s such a thing as a bootjack in this metropolitan hostlery,” a co’n and cotton voice enunciated in exasperated accents, “I wish yo’ all would send it up to mah room fo’ about two minutes.”
“Certainly, sir,” said the clerk. “Front! Send the bootblack up to 846.”
The bootblack came down on a run, talking Greek to himself. The desk telephone rang again before the clerk could ask questions.
“I don’t want any bootblack. I don’t want ’em painted. I want to pull ’em off. Send me a jack. Don’t yo’ all understand English?”
“Tell the engineer to rush a man with a kit of tools up to that room,” the clerk hurriedly ordered. “Right away, sir,” he spoke into the telephone.
“If it wasn’t for losin’ me job, I’d a kilt that felly,” the engine room assistant reported when he quickly returned from the eighth floor. “Th’ way he talked I’d not stand”—
The elevator door flew open with a crash and a tall, elderly man with light hair worn long strode to the desk, his jaws set, but his lips twitching with each step.
“By gad, suh!” he shouted, pounding the desk and leaning across it to glare at the astonished clerk. “I ain’t goin’ to allow no paper collared, Yankee clerk to make spo’t of me. If I wa’n’t absolutely certain that yo’ are jes’ one provincial New Yo’ker of the ignoramus variety I would give yo’ all the canin’ of you’ mis’able life, old as I am.
“Neveh mind explanations. Yo’ jes’ send that long, lanky No’th Ca’lina lookin’ boy yondeh up to mah room with me and we’ll see if I got to go to bed with mah boots on or go back to Geo’ga to get ’em off.”
The lanky boy reported that the boots were “sure some tight,” but his co-operation in their removal had netted him “fo’ bits.”
SUBWAY STORY
New York Times
“Wake up! Your station next,” shouted the Subway guard, as he shook a sleeping passenger. The passenger managed to let a “thank you” escape him, and propped his eyes open until the train came to a stop at the station.
“How did you know he got off at that station?” the guard was asked as the train moved on.
“How did I know? Why, he is on here every night, and he goes to sleep as soon as he gets on the train. I have awakened him so regularly that he thinks now it is one of my duties. He would never forgive me if I overlooked him.
“See that man sleeping over there in that middle seat, and that one over yonder near the other door? They work downtown somewhere and come up every night on this train. I always have to wake them up. The first man there gets off at 145th Street and the one by the door at 168th. We know practically all the regular passengers on the late night trains. Some work, while others are just rounders who are out every night, returning always on the same train with as much regularity as those who work.
“I have never missed but one, and he seemed terribly cut up about it. He talked like I was paid to ‘mind’ him. I look out for him now. I have scraped up a good many acquaintances in this way. Sometimes the sleepers are newspaper chaps, and they give us an early morning paper; others give us a smile and say ‘howdy?’ when we meet.”
A MIRAGE
New York Sun
Cap’n Duke, who hangs about the beach at Far Rockaway and tells stories of the sea to little children, saw a mirage yesterday afternoon just as the sun was setting. He was talking to a group of little ones at the time and he called their attention to it.