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About The Eugene City guard. (Eugene City, Or.) 1870-1899 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 1885)
MANIA i'OU STAMPS. One of tha 'crazet by Which Mortals Are Drawn Away. The Fabulous I'rlres Itrmandrd and fald for Aurlenl and Curloua Foalaac Stamp Supply ud Demand. New York for. Tny Time. Tbe announcement tlmt ffOO hud been paid for a canceled Iirattlcboro postage stamp calls our attention to u iniiniu which ban' gradually Increased until it has reached extraordinary poporlioiis. Homo may inquire what leads three people to collect pontage slumps. The only reply I found iu another question: Wind had people to collect anything? The fact in. tkat a diHiitlon to make collection), of some kind ha always lorn a feature in our race. One of the strangest of tlic-e collections, which in this instance Untitle a mania, is mentioned in Ihe life of Tom Moore. While traveling through England be met a man who collected hangmen') rope, and who had 2UH. each lickcud with the name of the victim. The txwinl tamp mania U of modern date, but ft has, during a brief jx riod, reached u prodigious extent. Formerly payment of postage was made in money, and the amount was marked in pen and ink; at present, however, 200 gov ernments use stamp. Iu 1M0 the latter was adopted in the UritUIi poslollice, ami seven years later our own government mudc a similar change. The example thus act on both sides of the Atlantic was grad ually followed, until tl use of stamps be came universal.' The mania for collccling aoon began, though at llit it was very limited. It grew like all other form of mania, until it became u regular lialllc, and was reduced to a system. Th tabic of rare stamps is now generally fixed, and there are collectors iu all parts of the world. The highest price ever paid for a age stamp is foOO. The one referred to was Issued on the French Island of lie union. The original cost of the stamp was 15 centimes ami 30 centimes (3 c nl" and 0 cents), and the immense price is solely duo to their rarity and to the fact that they are necessary to a complete col lection of foreign slump. There is not one for sale at present at auv price. The next highest is the liratlfi-lH.ro stamp, which is mentioned In the paragraph nliove referred to a having la-en Hold at $:t(KI. This statement is evidently incor rect, anil perhaps ils author has one of these stumps for sale, therefore takes this tiiethiMl to bull the market. The best ((notation that I can obtain for the Ilrittllu lioro stump Is $100, which certainly serins high enough when the first co-t was from 0 to 1HJ rents. The origin of the liratilc boro stamp, ' as 1 am informed, is as fol lows: In 1H-J0 the postmaster of that place had some stamps made iu order to obviate the necessity of using the pen. It was merely a private convenience, and the sola importance of the stamp is due to the fact that it is tho tlrst ever used in America. The next year stumps were ordered by tho government, und we may now well wonder how they ever got uloiig without them. The demand for stamps is now so gen eral that the clerks in houses engaged in foreign commerce carefully remove them from all letters, and this afford a large supply. Tho foreign corrc)oiidence of Tho Herald is sulllcicntly large to form an item iu the trade. Tho same statement ap plies to a greater or less degree to all the great journal, and in fact us soon as any olllre boy get hold of u foreign letter ho strips off the slump and carries it to some dealer. Among the dearest varieties are tho I'hillipine mid Peruvian stamps, while, on tho other hand, the I 'orlo Kico stump is very cheap. .Madeira und Hiitlsh Guiana, however, are high, and the law of supply and demand prevail in this as well us In all other commodities. As soon us a stamp becomes rare the maniac increases his olfer until fabulous prices are oliiikii.ed. There a uumber of slauip dealers, the most extensive bring tho establishment in Broadway. An enterprising; dealer has is sued an International po.stago album, which gives sample of a very extensive range, the price Itcing f.ViO. Some may think this is a largo sum to invest iu such a vol ume, but there are us innnv purchasers as the supply will (H-nnil. There is an all Hiilllclent abundance of the common slump, for which dialers pay S cent per 100 and sell the same quantity for IU cents, tier man stamps are very nbumlunt, owing to the immense umotinl of correspondence with that country. Hence they are very cheap, and the quolntitni at present Is 1 cent per I OH, IKK) assorted stamp ure sold for (III. but as soon n oiio gets into the rarities, fancy prices may be expected. Nome customers are ready lo pay all that mav lie asked for those choice specialties lo which reference lias been made. Tho proprietor of the es tablishment nlsivc mentioned operates lioldly when he sirs a good opening, and hence when the .Mailt ria Miami) was issued be sent (inters for ill I that could hcohtuiucd from the authorities, lie also ordered ut one tlmo fi.OOO worth of l'orto Itico stamp. One of his patrons is u member of the princely Vanderbilt family, whose collection has nl ready cost $IO,bOO. These facts show the Immense extent which thi mania has reached, and also those almost incredible prices which ure the result, Wuiiip-collu-tors are found iu all large cities, and one of the most lils-ml of this doss is a Hostonian. Hi collection, how ever, can not rival that of young Vander bilt, whoso mania has cost a stun which almost astonishes. Hie Art of Hlualiluff. Itontou Courier. 1 Ablush must bean indication of g. uuino feeling of one sort or another, and cannot be summoned ut will by the artful hello who has every other charming and be wildering device at her command. Yet the acquiring of the blush is not entirely hopclcM. The blush is produced by genu ine emotion, and until one can exHriencfl sensation of self distrust, shyness and re tiring modesty, ono can never hope lo ob tain the blush a au accomplishment and " bid the cheek In) ready with a blush mod est as looming. " Increase of Valuta. Philadelphia Call Irate Farmer N here, sir. If you are going lo run a railroad through my farm I want $10,000 damage. Supirintendeut Forty thousand dol lars! Ureal I'asur, maul You only paid $4,000 fur the whole property three montlis ago. Irate Farmer Yes, but a railroad through it makes it leu times more valu able. Tbe Flrel Cookery Book. Spain bus the high honor of having furnished the tlrst cookery book in any modem tongue. It is entitled "Libra do ( o..iim, coiiipursto por Kubcrlo de Nolo." it was iiinlcd ulout 131W. 0 MISSIONARIES IN CHINA, What the Catholics Are Doing In the Klowery Kingdom. IHong; Konic Cor. (Jlnoe-Demoerat.) "It bas loon said that the Chinese are hostile to the Catholics because they teach thoir converts that the pope is tho temporal as well as their spiritual sov ereign, whiuli is equivalent to an im pcrium in imperio." "It is so alleged, but it is not truo. The idea of the pope pleases the Chinese converts, because they see in him unity, and they are quite pleased to hear that thoy have to place their dependence on ono great central head of the church. We never spcuk to the natives about tho temporal power. Our head is simply the head of tho church. I don't really think there are moro than threo or four persons among the Chinese who know that tho pope has been deprived of his temporal jiower. A few native priests muy know it; not many." "It is alno alleged that the priests in terfere between tho magistrates and the people, and interrupt the administration of justice." "This, also, is not true. This wae one of the accusations mado against us in that famous memorandum which Mr. Low so ably refuted. He says it is an unnatural father who would not try to defend his own children. It is so in our relations with tho Chinese Their mandarins treat them very cruelly. There is constant extortion and squeez ing. Tho missionaries cannot hour to see it, and speak in thoir favor. This is only natural. There was a similar state of things when tho barbarians overran Europe in the fifth and sixth cent uries. There were now laws, and the people applied to the churchmen to de fend them that is, to state their coses, and see that they are not wronged. Tho Chinese are to be defended against tho attacks of tho mandarins. Not only do the Christians ask this, but tho pagan Chineso often ask the saaj thing. Tho people say, Why go to the mandar ins about this little dillicultyf Let us ask the advice of the missionary. I need hardly tell you that justico, so called, is most horribly administered in China, and our relation to tho oppressed Chinaman is nothing moro than that of witness, or of a lawyer giving legal ad vice when they aro in trouble more in tho former capacity than tho latter. Wo can not refuso a subpuna, and when wo give advice it is oftonir such as a villago cldor would give in some rural districts in F.tiropo. Ho gives gratuitous "dvicoiu tho interest of har mony, which thoso who appeal to him refuse or uccept ut thoir pleasure. Tho Catholic church in China wishes only peace and quietness, and all wo do is in their interest. If tho people ask who is to bo observed, we invariably tell them their mandarins. Wo never try to hide them from justieo or to shelter them from any just penalty, and, although in two or three cases some Catholics may havo put up a lantern over their doors, which is tho sign of a mandarin, we havo never approved of such action." "In what way do your priests in China try to adapt themselves to tho ways and " habits of the Chinosoi" "Tho missionaries dross as tho Chinese do. They eat rice, squat on tho ground, use chop-sticks, ami, in all ways not superstition or immoral, follow the customs of thoso about them. Of the hardships they uudergo 1 may be per mitted to sny something. In tho inte rior of China they lio on rico, fish, eggs, and a little pork. Href is not to bo had, nor European wiuo. Thoy do remarkable things with tho very little money at their disposal. They sjieml very littlo of it on them sehes. I do not know of any F.uropean missionary in China who spends more than 10 a month on his food and cloth ing. All tho rest is employed to build churches, schools, orphanages, and to create other necessary means for carry ing on his work. Bishop Calcross. who died in Fohkien four years ago, cele brated bis golden episcopal jubilee. Ho hud been tifty yours in China and never once left his mission. We have several missionaries now who havo been in the interior of China over thirty years." "What do you teach in your schools?" "We endeavor to make tho instruc tion wo ;''ve as practical as possible. Of eourso, the missionaries lirst master tho Chineso language. We touch tho Chinese el. ssics, becauso without a knowledge of them our pupils cannot get employment in China. Then wo teach geography ami arithmetic, huving Chinese books for that purosn. Wo also teach algebra, geometry, astronomy, and physics in tho higher schools in tho cities, having works in Chinese on most of these subjects. Theology wo to.n h, of course, to advance pupils." "Are there Catholic monasteries and convents iu Chinuf" "There aro a few monasteries, main tained by some of tho religious orders, but wo muk no novices. In making changes all of a particular ordor would havo to go together, which would some times prove luootivenient for our work." "lo your converts remain truo to tho faith" "They havo not tho moral stamina of western nations, but wo havo every reason to be sutistied with tho rosults of our labors." Hlrlli anil Itoath In Cuba. irit'fbii-jPispafh.l You can bo born without the assist ance of a doctor in .Cuba, but it is neo essary to have tho aid of a priest to make your birth legitimate. Tho law does not recognize your existence unless your nativity is recorded in the records of tho church. Nor tan you bo mar ried without tho padre, because, civil and l'ro'estant ceremonies aro not ac cepted as legal in China, .Much loss can you lo bunod. because tho cemeteries belong to the church, and the heretio has to pay well to lay his bones in one of them. The church is recognized in Cuba more completely than in Home, and exercises jurisdiction over the life there as well as that which is to come. Wooden HouMa lor South America. (hik-ago Herald. Tho business of making wooden houses iu the I'uited Mates for cuitom sale is said to bo on tho increase by reason of a brisk demand for thoso pro duets in Brazil. Several largo shipments havo been made to l'.io Janerio, and they were nil sold soon after their ar rival. Fifteen hundred of them have already been erected in tho new city of La 1'lata, tho new capital of the p. .vine of Buenos Ay res. AX EXPLOSIVE CONVOY UPS AN3 DOWNS ON BOARD A MISSIS SIPPI POWDIR TRANSPORT. TrpiMireil by a t'otir-Cuti Itnttery on hhore Within an Ini-li of Kingdom Come Capabilities of un "Infurmtl jitr!ilim'" "1'latooiu" Ex-Paymnjiter Teamon in Philadelphia Times. We tartel fir VlckaUirj iu company with toe Jacob Ktrader, tha largest steam boat on the lower river. The Strador wai burthened witii tanis t.nl; of tons of powder and fixed ammuuit on for the army. To gether we formo-1, peniani, the most explo sive convoy that ever saii.l the Mississippi, The holds won crainin? I with poir.ler and percussion shell; powder wai pilelon tue main docks aft the f urnieei and covered with tarpaulin; t kop out the spai-lu. Lower and upper giarl an 1 cabin were tackod with cartridges for small arint, Ai we glido l down stream Cap'. Kirch called me to the upper deck anl introduce I me to the querti; loikmg "infernal ma chine" we had yet encoun erad. Belligerent cranks were constantly bringing to the uavul authorities soma new invention for destruc tion of the bunun sped "Co be trie!.'' As for four years the Confederate states furn ished subjects for these experiments, they should tie entitled to a bill in equity against the inventors for a slian uf tbe protlti This thing placed in charge of Capt Birch was a sort of infantry platoon on wheels a rank of rifle-barrels ranged parallel and mounted like a boat howitzir. By percut sion the whole platoon wai simultaneously discharged in "one time and one motion." Birch told me he had reason to fear that ths Confederal) were aware of the coming of our convoy, and that somewhere on the route to Vicksburg they might waylay us and try to blow ua up. In case opportunity offered he wished me to take charge of the "infernal machine" and report upon its capa bilities. We charged the "platoon" anl blasod away over the river a few times to got elevation and range; then loaded ani left it ready for emergency. Next morning about 7 o'clock, as we were steaming down the river, I had just rolled over for another snoozj, when I was aroused by a crash through the sidos of the ship, together with a rattling report of light artil lery. In a moment came a kick at my door, with the words: "Uallool Get upl We're in a fight I" I bounced out, and being ready barnoBseil, excepting coat and boots, ran for the hurricane deck and "infernal machine." We were passing through "Cypre-w Baud," and things around looked interesting. On shore, abreaxt the narrowest of the channel, was a four-gun battery of fijll pieces, manned by about '200 ConfoJornto3, all peppering away like a fourth of July. About 100 yards ahead was the Stra ler. Hue had been the target of the first volley and escaped damage. The Oon. Lyon came next, and hore tbe enomy bad better luck, putting all four of the shot of their seoond volley through u& It U scarcely nece-wary to mention that our cargo was unscathed. Had any part of it been struck thii chapter would have been writtea by somebody else. Next oftor the Lyon came the transport New Kontucky, loaded with troops and mules. Tbe third round of the battory blew her up. She drifted and lodged upon a aand bar and lay there helplo-a, enveloped in a cloud of steam, while the battery poured shot into her as fast as the guns could be served. Tbe men not busy with the field pieces amused themselves with small arms. Many were perched in the small treat astrad dle of the limbs, whence they kopt up a lively shower of buclcsbot and little bullets. But they fired too hizh. Alongside our lee was the gunboat Signal Capt. Birch suggested that she engage tiie battery and rescue the disabled transport, which was being roughly treated. Tbe com mander of the Signal objected that, being a "tin-clad," hs could not go within rang 3 without endangoring his own boilers.! "It you won't do it, sai I Birch, "then, by 0-, I will!" j We rounded to and went for the battery. Tbe long thirty-two pounder on Ike fore castle was iu charge of an old man-Of-wars-man and gunner, Acting Ensign John Powell. As we neared the Confederates he sent a shell which struck in tbe river bank beneath them. Another quickly followed and burst in the midst of the convocation around the guns. It caused a catterment" and they began to limber up. Meanwhile the "infernal machine" was tested. Aimed into the tree tops, it fired a whole platoon. I had squatted down behind it to aim, and, intent on the effect of the dis charge, forgot to keep clear of the recoil I picked myself up with a soro head, for which I wan couixnsated by witnessing the comical style in which the occupants of the tree tops tumbled out It reminded mo of old-time black bird shooting. The platoon was agaiu got into lino o battle and fired another blizzwd with gootrtffect, while the old thirty-two pound t put in some moro notices to quit, so persuasive that our loos were soon in full retreat aennt the boa 1, affectionately followed by our kind adieux so long as we could see them. . . Tho steamer New Kentucky was rescued and taken in tow. It tli -n b.'hoovel ui to hasten on and pas the other side of the bend liofore the battery reached it to intercept us. Since we had force enou -h it would, per haps have been better and safer to have landed and captured the guns than to risk their bad marksmanship agaiu. Fortun ately we got abend of them and escaped a repetition of their attentions. Ono of the party of hostile was subse quently captured, and from him we learned that the shell an appositely planted ainoni them from the I.you killed and wounded six teen men of the battery. To bow much credit the "infernal machine" was entitled is uncertain. Judging by the infernal energy with which it kicked over its engineer it ought to bare slaughtered all there was left Our loss was trilling, our escape miracu lous. Of the shots which struck the Lyon two passed through the flues close in front, the others juxt behind her boilers. One actually knocked off the button of the steam gauge, A divergence of one inch, either way, would have been destruction tj the en tire convoy. It seemed as if Providence had purposed an example of "upon what slender threads hang everlasting' thing! " The loss of those cargoes of ammunition might have materially changed results at Vicksburg. Had our assailants succeeded in blowing us up it would have been a rich joke on them telvas. We were not thirty yards distant when they struck us, and bad we "gone otT there would not have boon a grease spjt left of them. Jut am Writ. London Puncb.l The curate (nervously) I am sorry not to see you oftmer at church. Sir Unrgias! Sir Oorgius Oh ah yes! My old h en emy, tbe gout, yer know. Bat if the fumls are dickey, shall be very 'appy to send yon a check I The curat 0, thank you. Sir Gorgiusi That'll do just as well! A New York plate-glass Insurance com pany rerorts 761 loem during Ltet cut of about 0,000 rtV- IN THE FRIGID NORTH. A Borvlvor of the Creely Expedition- Interesting Incident. (Ran Kronchco Alta.) Sergt. Maurice Connell, of the Third United States cavalry, and a survivor of tho Lieut. Greely expedition, is in San Francisco, having arrived recently from Washington. He said, in the course of a conversation with a reporter: "I've been in service in Arizona under Gen. Cook, tho celebrated Indian warrior, and was also with him in his campaigns in ' Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska. Volunteers were called for men who had been on the frontier or in the army and were inured to hard shipsand in April, 1S81, 1 joined the Arctic exploring expedition under Lieut. Greely." "Cannot vou tell me any interesting incidents of your northern expedition (' "Well, tho history of the expedition has been very fully published and commented upon in all of the leading news journals, and you, of courso, do not wish for any repetitions.. Still, I'll try to give y u some of my personal im pressions, which may, perhaps, be worthy of publication. ' "I was greatly surprised at the ice north of the eighty-first parallel, where it is from fifty to eighty feot in thick ness. It is called for this reason, and because of its wide extent, the ancient frozen sea. North of the eighty-fifth parallel it is supposed that the ice never breaks, but remains always frozon. Be tween the eighty-lirst and eighty-second parallels we wero plentifully supplied with game. "There were musk oxen, ptarmigan, Arctic foxes, and wild ducks and geese. '1 he musk oxen never leave that section of the country, but the darkness pre vents them from being hunted in win ter. They havo beon seen, however, so early as the 20th of April, and so late as the 1st of November. It is claimed by some writers that these oxen always fol low the direction of the receding sun, but my observation is that the presence of, an immense glacier makes that impossible. The musk oxen weigh less than 200 pounds in April, but increase iu weight to 400 pounds in July. The Sibo rian wolves, that seldom if ever attack niun, follow the oxen in the heaviest snows, ham-string and feed upon them. We used to hunt and kill tho musk oxen during tho summer, and then skin and preserve them. We ascertained that by skinning them immediately after killing tho rtesh was relieved of a disagreoable sweet and musky llavor which otherwise distinguished it. Tho ptarmigan is ap parently a species of prairio hen. The color of the male is always white, but the fuinalo, in summer changes its pluniago from white to brown. Tho ducks and geese of this region are always Hying north during the summer, in search of continual daylight, I pre sume, or elso a quiet locality in which to breed, but after Aug. 15, they bigin to return to tho south. "The ploasantest chapter in our Arctio experience was the two years' life at Fort Conger. It was cold, though, the mean temperature being 5 degrees bo low zero, the minimum 72 degrees be low, and the maximum 52 degrees above zero. But we built ourselves a house and had an ample stock of provisions. We also discovered, only six miles dis tant, a mine, out of which could be knocked a ton of coal with a single blow of the pick, so that by loading the coal Upon our sledges and hauling it over tho ieo to camp, we experienced no dif Acuity in koeping warm. About 100 miles northwest of Fort Conger I saw an open river running out of Lake llazen. The head of tho river was open for a distance of about three miles, although for throe consecutive months 50 degrees below zero was tho mean temperature. The river was open in April, with indi cations that it had been so all through the winter." "I suppose you suffered much from cold while out ou the exploring slodgos?" "Very true. I can toll you of many excursions when, with the thermometer 61 degrees bolow zero, I've slept between two buffalo skins upon tho ice. It is customary when returning to camp from a sledging excursion for a man im mediately to tako off his socks and put them into his breast to warm, while he puts on a dry pair. Wo used a dried moat called pomraican, a pound of which contains as much nutriment as five jiounds of frosh meat. Hardtack and tea aro its usual accompaniments. Every sledgo also has to carry a pick and shovel, a hatchet or an ax, a sleep ing-sack, and au alcohol lamp, which is used in melting the ice to obtain water, etc. Tho averago weight of tho sledge and its contents is not loss than :ioO pounds, which the 'explorer is compelled to draw himself over the ice, and in the face ef tho snow, often laboring se verely, and advancing, but a fow miles in a day, when tho elements conspire against him. Tho darkness, tho senso of isolation and tho wide waste of snow and ice are but too well calculated to make a man lonely and dejected. How lrow Vary In Diameter. !-cientiftc Exchange. The diameter of trees is said to vary not only from summer to winter, but from day to day. They are larger from noon to twilight the next morning than from twilight until noon; they are smaller in winter than in summer. Water and the sap of trees expand not only in prortion as they rise above, but also as they go below tho freezing point. Low temperature as well as high promotes evaporation, and the trees evaporate from thoir branches in winter, and so tho colder tho weather the more they shrink. Dakota for Rret Suxar. (Inter-Ocean.) Mr. II. C. Kohler, a Dakota farmer whose father and uncle were the pioneer beet sugar manufacturers of Hanover, Germany declares that the conditions of soil and climate in Dakota are very similar to tho.so at his old homo across the water, and he believes the manufac ture of beet sugar will prove ono of the best paying industries of the northwest becauso" the per cent, of sugar is so very largo iu tho roots raised there. The American Society for Psychical Research, organized in Boston, has established a branch in New York. The object is the excellent one of appre hending scientifically the mysterious hypuouc and clairvoyant sta.es. THE WIDOW'S PALACE. MRS MARK HOPKINS AND HER NEW HOUSE AT GREAT BARRINGTON. The rowwor or 30,0O0,OOO Leaving a Million Dollar Keeldence In California to Live In a Finer One In SU achtuetU, New York World. A paragraph was published some dayi ago In which it was said that Mrs. Mark Hop kins, of California, had determined to build a $5,000,000 residence at Great Barrington, Mass. Previous to that the Boston papers bad published the report that the bouse was to cost only one-fifth that sum an l the third and last report is that the amount to be, expended is only (oOO.OOU It is true, indeed, that Mrs. Hopkins is going to build a residence at Great Barrington. It is furthermore true that it U to be a very expensive one tbe most expensive probably in Massachusetts, or even New England. It will not cost so much as $5,00 J,0JO, but it will cost more than $1,000,000. Tbe plans are completed and have been accepted. They now rest in the hands of New York architects and will not be made public for some time. Work on the foundation of tbe building .will be commenced tbe coming spring and Mrs. Hopkins expects to see it ready for occupancy three years hence. There is some interesting history woven in and about the life of Mrs. Mark Hopkins. Sue is the widow of Mark Hopkins who was one of the five men of California who built the Central Pacific railroad and made each a princely fortune out of It. Tbe others were Leland Stanford, C. P. Huntington, and the two Crocker Hopkins was tbe treasurer of the company from its organisa tion in 1861 or thereabout, till his death in 1878. He left an estate that was inventoried at $21,700,000. He died without having made a will and without children. By tbe common lawa Mrs. Hopkins would have been entitled to ouly one-third of tbe immense estate. Tbe courts made her the executrix, and she took poses aion, but the two brothers of her deceased husband, Moses and Samuel, or rather Moses and the sons of Samuel, for the latter had died, brought a suit against her and secured her removal from the executorship of the es tate, and an accounting of it. The matter was finally compromised, Moses Hopkins and the sons of Samuel Hopkins being con tent to receive together some $4,000,000 in hard cash. Mrs. Hopkins got tbe remaindor, which, as already stated, now amounts to about $.'0,000,000. Thus do we come to know who Mrs. Mark Hopkins is and how she became so rich. Before Mark Hopkins died he built the first of those palatial residences that have since excited the wonder and admiration of all who have in tbe past ten years visited the city of San Francisco. It was con structed of wood, like all tha others of its class, but bad about it all the elaborateness and extravagance of some of the finest English country hou.-es. It was said to have cost $1,000,000, and at that time the Stewart residence in New York city was the only dwelling-bouse in America that bad cost that sum. It was the Hopkins mansion that made Knob Hill the fashionable quar ter of San Francisco. All have heard of the splendid residences that Governor Stanford, James Flood and other California million aires have since built there. Since her hus band's death Mrs. Hopkins bas purchased Menlo park, RaUton'a famous country place, and tbero she has settled her adopted son James, a young man of 20, who recently married a Miss Crittenden, of California, a niece of Mrs. Hopkins. Notwithstanding all these large posses sions, not to speak of others on the Pacific slope, Mrs, Hopkins proposes to make her home in ber husband's rative town of Great Barrington, Moss. She has always had an affection for the place and comes there because its people and surround ings are congenial to their tastes. During recent years Mrs. Hopkins has come here to spend her summer. It was there that she lived when a young girl, and there that she was married. When she grew rich she added the porticoes, put colored glass in some of the windows and furnished it lux uriantly. The carpets in every room are as soft aa down, tbe chairs are of antique ma hogany upholstered in yellow silk plush. Every bit of pottery, every piece of bronze, every foot-stool, every sofa, lounge, chair, stand, vase or whatever it may be, bears evidence of having been selected with culti vated taste. The new dwelling that is to supplant the old will be 178 by 148 feet and will be built of blue dolomite. It is a very bard stone, of finer grain than granite, and is obtained from a neighboring quarry owned by Mrs. Hopkins herself. The exterior walls are to show the stone in rough surface with cut seams. The vtables and the coachman's cot tage are already built They are of the same dolomite to be employed in the con struction of the residence and look as though they would endure through all the ages to come. I cannot give a description of the residence for tbe excellent reason that I have not men the drawings.. The ground upon which Mr?. Hopkins is to build her castle extends a hundred yards along the principal street, and back of it, to the south a little, is a levol meadow valley that runs oil along the shore of the Housa tonic and to the foot of tbe picturesque Berk shire hills on tbe other tide. In the midst of this smooth meadow field is an artificial basin in which is a fountain from which in summer springs a stream of water nearly a hundred feet into the air and comes down in a mist that is as soft as a silken veil Mrs. Hopkins is a woman of. great strength of character. She is well fitted to care for the vast estate left her. Both in appearance and in mental characteristics she is strongly masculine. She is of commanding appear ance, and one is always made to feel, when in her presence, that she bas the unmistak able elements of superiority. She is thor oughly acquainted with all the ways ' busi ness, bas a broad grasp of fl- ancial ques tions, look after ber vast interests with the closest minuteness, and drives a bargain with tact and economy. Her husband was pas sionately fond of horses; so is she. Her stable at Great Barrington is one of the com pletes and most comfortable in the country. Its inmates are of the finest breeding and movement, and are looked after by their colored master with tbe greatest care. Dur ing her visits to Great Barrington Mrs, Hop kins may be seen on the afternoon of every fair day driving oat behind a pair of fine trotters, she herself holding the reins. She makes long excursions about the surround ing country, and every inhabitant, young or old, knows ber. She is the great woman of Great Barrington. Hunger, It Is an old saying that a boy is always hungry; it is equally true that if a girl is not hungry at least three times a day she is in wrong physical condition. Coffee Cape. The latest shape for coffee caps is square the latest decoration wild flowers, apparently growing up from tha base of the cup, ail around it IDENTITY. Plart Vance in Tue Current. A tender awe, an imminence of tears Boded our masting, an J our hand -clam) starts The old heart-Are, but a formal phras that parU ' Our suuli mure fatally than all tha jean, li ulther' greetiug. Placid wont inheres In voice and aspect, and our very bearta Are quencbod with modern dignities and arts. Memory recoils, and no romance appear A I my and girl bent down at once one day To pluck one wiid-fiower, aud ber bondlo hair Was blown across bia face, and he, Lifting his eye, love's blazon, ouht a ray , Uf Huttven through Iter's, and both gluwej spell-bound there! Are we these two) Ur have they ceased to bet HIilpplDs Coin Abroad. Now York Cor. Chicago Journal. Tho shipment of gold to Europe, which has lately sot in, is a distinctive feature of New York commorco, since no other American port does anywhere near so much business in the actual handling of precious metals, both gold and silver. Gold is handled in coin and bars in this city to an astonishing degree. Every day at about 3 o'clock hundreds of bankers' and brokers' em ployes may be seon carrying bags of coin on special deliveries or to the safety deposit vaults which abound in the vicinity of Wall street, and are rented out to patrons. Tho strictest watch 18 kept on these earthy richos, the man carrying the coin boing ac companied as a rule, by some sedate de-. tective or otlicer of the corporation or firm owning the gold. Gold coin and gold bars beautiful yellow paper weights I are to be seen in many bank windows throughout the city. Silver is not considered as dangerous as gold in handling. A gold bar the sizo of a tnuff-box is worth about the same as a bur of silver nearly as large as a bar of pig-irou, and quite as much as a man ran carry. A thousand ounces of silver is worth about $1,000 the same as fifty ounces of gold. So the great bars of silver are simply oountod and then conveyed on drays to the dealers, the assay offices, or the cars for transportation to the mints, as desired. It is about the same as handling any other freight, for no one fears that any thief will try to pick up an eighty or ninety-pound bar of metal, tuck it into his vest pocket, and scurry olT with it. Just at present, by the way, Europe is getting away with our gold, and jealous patriots feel like calling out, "Stop, thief." Joaquin Miller at Home. Chicago Tribune, Cincinnatus H. Miller, poetically known "Wawkeen," now resides in a cabin in the suburbs of Washington, lie does this in ordor to be constantly reminded of his dearly-beloved Sierras. He wears a slouched sombrero when he visits the citr, and strangers never fail to ask who he is. His cabin is one story and a half in height, contains four rooms, and is composed of hewn logs chinked up with plaster. The roof is slanting and nicely shingled. The dojr is kept fastened with a common bar, though the latch-string hangs out. Kough logs compose the walls ; there is no carpet nor mat on the floors ; the small, square windows are shaded by white muslin curtains; a plain, Ion?, low pine table, littered with old letters and manu- jripts, stands in the middle of the apartment, and a high, brood chimney place emits from its log fire a most grateful warmth and a ruddy glow that lazily dances over the mammoth hearth stone. Over in the further corner of the room is a bedstead of unbarked posts, straight, stanch and heavy, with delicate, gray mosses and liliputian lichens. The poet uses bearskins and buffalo robes for bed-clothing. When visited the other day the poet pointed to the moss on tho logs of his cabin and said : " 1 ou see God s autograph here." The Happy Wo-Lueky .g-ru. John Paul. The other day a negro just paid off from loug work on the railroad with $i!0, came into a store, and, after buying a silk handkerchief for a dollar, turned round and bought a thirteen and a half dollar trunk to put it in. "I have it on the word of Thomas CMitcholl, that be saw a negro after buying a high silk hat too small for him, iuvest the balance of his funds in eleven pairs of white kid gloves tho entire stock on hand which caught his eye and hap pened to please his fancy. I, after Christmas time, saw at the station a group wno, tueir noiiuay ended, were going to distribute themselves for work alon tha lino of railroad. Many a one with out shoes wore a srlk hat, and tho greater part of them, dressed in dilap idated shirts and trousers, carried what else they had of clothes in bran new russet-leather, nickel-plated traveling bags." Sew tatare In fruit 1'renervlnr. Detroit Free Press. California fruit growers have discov ered that apricots bleached with sul phur fumes and then dried in the sun are superior to those that are dried in any other manner or that are canned. They regard this fact of very great im portance to the whole state. It enables every fruit culturist, however limited his means, and however small the prod uct of his orchards, to dry his own fruit for the market, and make him in dependent of the canning factories. Who It Was ror. Manufacturers' Gazette. At the Little Rock, Ark., telephone exchange lately a call came in from a residence for a feed store. "Hello!" "Hello? What is it?" "Mamma says send np a sack of oats and a bale of hay," in a child's voice. "Who is it for?" inquired the feed man. Whr, for the cow," drawled tue youngster, and closed up. How He Her. Chicago Herald. Lient. Danenhower is reported to have won his wife, as Othello did, by thrilling tales of his "most disastrous chances.' Ue first met her during his lecturing tour and afterward in private narrated his adventures in the Arctio seas, and so gained her heart at welt u ear.