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::OA *K € /t^: v i#-•'.;&•< t FATHER SITS EWTREE THE INDIAN'S r ELIGION. OLD AND NEW. J cannot joy with those who hall The new-born year; I rather grieve with those who gtve The dead Old Year A tender tear. The New--what Know I of the N»w* I knew the Did! God'* benison upon his cor so On which the mold Lies stiff and cold. Here in the shadow let me statu! And count them o'er. The blessings that he brought t«i me. A pre nous aioit 1 a.>hc«l no more. He bn.uKht me health- a priceless boon To me and mm'-; • He brought me plenty for my needs. ! And i-rowned my shrme \ With love divine. All! when I think-suffused with tears I i t el iri) ' Of all the dear delights he brought; Yet stark he li< » 'Neath Winter skies. Therefore I run not hall with Joy The new-born year; I rather grieve, with those w*r ° The dead Old y»-ur A tender tear tcr/en/cars' Ycart Lvtt ALTER CARSON leaned back in the easy chair, drawn up before his sit­ ting room fire at his Duke Btreet chaptbers in Ix>n- ' don. The clock had ctruck 10 nncJ t^c s^n^rrms boom from Big Ben came floating over the Green park as a sort of benediction on the rapidly dying year. The roar of the great city without was not lack­ ing in its element of melody, and the noise af merry revelers in Piccadilly completed a strange yet fascinating tout ensemble Passing down the street came three young men singins that old Southern song, Tse twine back to Dixey." The words and the melody startled Carson from the rev­ erie into which he had fallen. Sitting upright in his chair, he said, aloud; "What memories that song recalls! How my lone:ine?s grows upon me' What a fool 1 was ever to have in­ dulged in the thing called love! But there. I've tasted the poison and must abide by the result. What's that re­ sult? Pleasing? Why cannot I be of the gay throng outside? Here in thiB mighty cfbwded city 1 am as lonely as a man lost in a desert." He rose and. going to the other side of the room, opened a cabinet and took from it a bundle of letters, some dozen. They were faded and bore traces of much handling. After reading, he replaced them, and, walking to the photograph of a child on the wall, indulged in soliloquy. "I know you not. my sweet child, bat your mother was always, and al­ ways must be everything to me. How bard and cruel seems the world! Your mother and 1 parted ten long years ago this night, to meet again in two years time! What happened to pre­ vent us? 1 wrote many times, but no reply ever reached me. Three years after we separated a letter came from and in it I read; 'Now that 1 am married, perhaps you will write.' Lift1 seemed a blank, and 1 came to Lon­ don. a wayfarer, caring not what be­ came of me. I turned , to literature, and have been what people call suc­ cessful. But ivhat is success without the power to experience that which makes it other thau a metallic grati­ fication? Eighteen months went by ' before I next heard from your mother, •ad then your photo only reached me, since when all has been silence! Your mother married a good man, and I city of guardian. The first, of Car­ bon's epistles -- he was a cautious man hu<1 did not com rait himself to pa per until he-coult not resist doing sr --arrived when th< [aunt believed sh« was arranging j highly desirabk engagement for hei niece, and on th« principle of doinp fixing that good may come, she kepi bark the notes of this obviously poor suitor. Carson often felt desolate, but neve: so utterly as then, and as he paced th*- floor the laughter of the happy crowd seeired to mock him. He rang the bel and ordered some tea The demur* Mttle maid looked at bint, and, goin* down stairs, said: *•- "Poor Mr. Carbon, he looks s. strange and miserable!" Returning, she found him sitting i; his chair gazing with half-closed eye- into the fire. Placing the tea on > small wii'ffer table by his side, she at traded his attention by the question "Anything el?e. sir?" "No," *ras the reply; "but, see, this is New Year's Eve. You've been a good servant to me, at least. Buy yourseli something," f.anding her a sovereign. The amount of the gift bereft the girl of the power of speech, and with a curtesy, eloquent in itself of gratitude, she left. Carson, sipping his tea. again solilo­ quized. "It's now within an hour and a quarter of the New Year. What will that year bring into my life? It »aniiot bring the light of love and i ompanionship. The same round of weeks and months, and so it will be to the end. Ten years ago. in Old Kentucky, we said '(Jooti-bj^-^t was a good-by' forever." Apostrophizing the absent woman, he continued: "l^eila, Leila, to my grave I take with me the love I bear you. Why did we live to be parted so ruthlessly? What strange fate has so guided our destinies?" He turned to the story of Evangeline and read of the sufferings of that heroic character. The leading soothed hi-- vod be fell asleep. •> The clocks were striking the twelfth stroke of midnight when he awoke He barely opened his eyes, then close l them again, and listened to the joyous salutations of people meeting in thr streets. He was not selfish, neither was be bad natured. No man who every truly loved can be altogether either. As he listened he said: "I wish for all a bright New Year, and '/eila, my absent Leila, whom 1 shall nr7(jr see agaip, may your life know no sorrow, may yours never be htm how, three years before, after be­ ing left a widow- she determined to find out what had become of the sweet­ heart of her younger days. How, by a chapter of happy accidents, she learned that he was in London, How, on knowiog this, she hurried over land and sea, and just at the birth of the New Year entered his room. She saw the tears fall from his eyes, heard her name mentioned, and his blessing go out to her. All doubts Wfere then at an end. "My children will be here by Ihe next boat, and you .must be to them a father. Now I must go, as I'm weary with the excitement of the day." Carson drove her to her hotel, and to him the New Year bells never seemed to hare rung such merry peals. They rang into his life a N^w Year is every sense. A few days later there was a/quiet marriage, and on the fol­ lowing New Year's Eve, as Carson and his wife listened to the hour of mid- ight strike, they thought, with hearts full of love and gratitude, of the joy­ ous meeting twelve months before. 1 M «. A. • * - "I ltfe: "I KNOW YOU NOT. SWEET CHILD.' |r.ay tor her and for you, too, baby, that you may grow up in her foot­ steps!" The circumstances under which his letters to the girl went astray were to him mysterious, but, as a matter of fact, easily explained. The girl was the daughter of a country lawyer, and he had made her acquaintance when ^ she was staying In a boarding house In Bloomsbury, in which he was also * lodger. Her reason for being in town was that she might improve a Somewhat neglected education, and •he was taking singing lessons at CAME IN WITH THE NEW YEAR." the aching heart, and may you be blessed in your children growing up around you. My Leila " He did not finish the sentence, but the tears came trickling down his cheeks as he realized his barren life. Then he became conscious that some one had come into the room and been a witness of his weakness and his se­ cret--secret because society said Wal­ ter Carson carried his heart on his sleeve and was incapable of deep affec tlon. So sitting up and turning round he was startled to see seated on a chair a tall lady, clad in-'deepi mourn­ ing and veiled so heavily that he was unable to distinguish her face. "Madam," he inquired, too taken aback even to get up, "I should like to know why I am thus honored?" "I came in with the New Year. Not an omen of ill-luck, I hop4," replied a musical voice: "but I first want to know if Walter Carson is not an as sumed name?" "Why do you ask such a question?' "For the best of good reasons, and as you will not tell me. perhaps you will allow me to say that I think youv real name is Herbert Wilton," pro ceeded the mysterious stranger. Carson was utterly unprepared to this, and his surprise was painfully manifest Appearing not to notice it. the lady went on: "You are unhappy, I know, Mr. Wil­ ton. I 6hall not call you Mr. Carson. I am certain of it, because I was watch­ ing you for ten minutes before you -opened your eyes. Can I be of any help to you?" "I don't usderstand you, madam," answered Carson. "I have no trouble, at least none that you could assist me in." "Has it any connection with an old love afTalr?" very slowly asked the •eiled visitor. "I must decline to discuss my pri­ vate matters with an utter stranger," replied Carson, jumping up. "Am I an utter stranger, Herbert?" responded the stranger, also rising, and as ghe did so throwing back her veil. "Leila!" gasped Carson, looking Incredulously into her face. NEW YEAR'S PASTIMES. The Ideal New Year's day, from a. sporting point of view, combines a clear sky, cold atmosphere, light wind, a mantle of snow on the ground and lakes, and ponds well frozen. Such an attractive array of weather conditions has been denied the lovers of outdoor sports in most parts of the Unitea States for several years, as the good "old-fashioned, deep-snow New Year's days" are few and far between. The ' sports directly associateid with New Year's, however, are sufficiently nu­ merous and diversified to please the most exacting. A sleigh-ride behind an ordinary horse or an afternoon's fun^u the ice do not require athletic training, but, when both become trials of speed, robust constitutions and thorough condition are requisites for success. Nothing is more exhilarating than a brush down the .road behind a trotter that can do three minutes or better, and it takes one with lusty lungs to face the keen, biting wind re­ sulting from a pncc. Shooting at the traps is a pastime -peculiar to the winter months and is enjoyed hy hundreds of gunners, who set aside New Year's day for special events that usually last from early morning until sunset. Others take their game bags and shotguns to the country and try their luck at birds in and out of season, paying well for the latter if caught by the wardens or constables. The old-fashioned "shoot­ ing match" and "raffle" are still en­ gaged in in some sections of the coun­ try. These are gala affairs, and it is not an unusual thing to see some good shot or lucky dice thrower go home with half a dozen turkeys over his shoulders. None of these sports, however, par­ take of the hardihood displayed by the thin-clad athletes who hold cross coun­ try runs on the first day of the year, whatever the conditions may be. At­ tired only in swearters, trunks and running shoes, these athletes, who are innured to the cold through good health and outdoor activity, race across country with evident relish, while the ordinary mortal stares and figures on the number of pneumonia patients who will be placed under treatment on the morrow. Nothing of the sort happens, by the way. The old Scotch game of curling ha* Its American votaries, and the rinks in large cities are usually crowded on New Year's day. There are many other pastimes that are essentially hol­ iday sports, such as tobogganing, snow shoeing and the like, which have been imported from Canada, as it were, but very few have taken up these owing to the open winters. In fact, during the past few years, it has not been an unusual sight to see wheelmen -on the cycle paths on New Year's day. instead of drivers of sleighs. MMeveleut Spirit* Concern the Children • 4'„. o), the Forest. - ' The Tndiap's religion is a curtoos study, and the more curious because his ideas concerning the theory and practice of medicine are so interwoven with his religion that it is hard to say where the one ends and the other "begins. He seems to belie<ye that every­ thing has a spirit--that all animals and even trees and stones, have within them spirits. When he slay* a dan­ gerous animal, therefore, he offera to­ bacco or apologies to it and explains the necessity his family was under for food; or else he lays the blame of its destruction upon somebody else. When he catches the first salmon of the spring run he propitiates it by offer­ ings and ceremonials, so as to appease the displeasure of its kind and to in­ sure that the run will not fail the next season. He also takes care that the bones of slain beaver and deer shall not be gnawed by the dogs and the spirits of the slain enraged as a consequence. The most of his religi­ ous efforts are directed to the propitia­ tion of these innumerable spirits, on the one hand, that they may be worf over to help him. He hopes they will make him a successful warrior and hunter, give him rain when he wants it, keep him well and strong, or cure him when sick. Good spirits, however," the Indian cares very little for; it is the bad, malevolent spirits that con­ cern him most. Hence the Indian "shaman," or medicine man, Is also his priest, so far as he has any. For it is the shaman that pretends an ability to control bad spirits and coax them out of a person when they have entered and taken possession. That the Indian believes in some sort of future existence is true, but that this belief has crystalized into the form of a "Happy Hunting Ground," of which we have heard so much, is much to be doubted. To the Indian mind the fu­ ture is vague and uncertain. He seems to be much more concerned in pro­ pitiating the spirits of the friends that have gone before, of which he is much afraid, than of preparing him­ self for a future state of any sort. The idea of eternal punishment he never dreams of. The idea of a Great Spirit or " Su­ preme Deity, who watches over the destinies of mankind," was brought to the Indian by his ^bite brother, and is a conception to Which the Indian had not reached.--Philadelphia Times. Gossip From Washington Hotppeningsof Interest in the C&pit&l City. Balancing Oar Books. When' the" year is ended and the final summing up of accounts is finish­ ed, it is comforting to look back and to be able to say, in all Stocerlty, that we have done the best we eOuld for our­ selves and for those about us. It is more than comforting to see that we have gained something, that our ef­ forts have been crowned with success, and that we are by this advance- I ment enabled to score a victory, even I though it may be trifling, over ad- | verse circumstances. It encourages us i to redouble our efforts to make a bet­ ter showing for the years to come, to so order our affairs that this season's gain will be but the beginning of bet ter things, and that the great and grand fabric of bur future may rise, ever increasing, ever more and more beautiful, and end in a noble, manly, womanly. Christian, symmetrical char­ acter that will make its possessor known and honored of all men. P layer*' Christmas. No class of people contribute so 3S& school of music in the neighborhood. "Yes, Leila," was the answer whls- An aunt took away this unwanted pered, while her arms stole round his dnughter from among the large familv neck, "come back to you with the New *t home, to be a companion across the Year, never to leave your side until it I scene which Was in its way quite as Atlantic, and, suspecting her of fllghtl- so pleases God." 'effective as those the audience looked •ess, opened her letters la the eapa- Then they sat down and she told upon from the. front of the heuss. largely to making Christmas a merry day (or the public than the actors and actresses. Tet few of them may be said to have a merry Christmas, for not only are they compelled to do their regular stint upon the stage, but at most theaters extra matinee per formances are given, thus compelling the players to do double duty. Yet with all their hard labor few people enjoy their day better than the actor fplk. Sometimes, however, the stage door opens to admit a breath of holl day-making and the older theaters of New York have witnessed many AN ARABIAN PRESCRIPTION. Haphazard Cue of Plants In Treatment of All Diseases, Medicine is supposed by the follow­ ers of Islam to possess some super­ natural power, and this popular notion enables many Arabian physicians to a< quire a rvputf t i lon |V>r wisdom at a very small cost. A physician of this type is not well educated. He knows how to read and write his own tongue and he is acquainted with-the properties of a number of plants, which he uses at haphazard in the treatment of all diseases, but beyond this he knows nothing. In his opinion the most effective prescriptions con­ sists of verses which are selected from the Koran and written on colored bits of paper. These bits of paper are then to be swallowed by the sick per­ sons, who are assured that they will speedily become convalescent. Sometimes the prescription is placed in water until it is at the point of boiling, and then it must be drunk by the unfortunate patient. No matter Iiow absurd they may seem, the pa­ tients fiitlifully follow the prescrip­ tions, and never hesitate to pay a high price for them. Nay, at the bidding of their physicians they even perform the most foolish antics, and if they are not dead by that time they are nest obliged to swallow doses composed of plants, roots and metals. In case of fever a more extraordinary method is employed. The physician writes on an egg certain verses from the Koran and then bids the patient hatch the egg, Informing him that if a chicken comes out ht will certainly be cured. Patients suffering from other maladies usual1 y make a inlxttfte of mercury and ferrocyanrue of potassium, which they place over a fire so that they may inhale the vapour. Among other subBtances used in prescriptions are fat, codfish oil, garlic, aniseed, pepper, salt, angelica, asafoetida, orange water and vinegar. The druggist does not prepare prescriptions, but delivers the lugredients, the quantity of each being solely designated by its monetary value, and the patient himself is ex­ pected to mix them. A I<ost Company. A good deal of fun has been made of British war office red tape, owing to the disappearance of the Ninety- eighth company of Yeomanry. The company raised 300 men strong in Yorkshire a year ago Aid properly en­ rolled, after which the war office lost track of it It was found after a long search that tne men had been divided up into other commands and that most of them had been sent to South Africa, but thj* war office had no record of how or when this was done. Officially the Ninety-eighth company remains lost--New York Sun. A Wicked .Woman's Wiles. Messalina, the infamous wife of Claudius Caesar, was small and lively. She had black eyes that sparkled when she talked, and a persuading, pleading way that no one could resist. It was said of her that she was so clever at hypocrisy that she could smile on her lover and lean caressingly on his bosom while he drank the poison her own hands had prepared. Manuscript., of tiray's "Elegy." The manuscript of Gray's "Elegy" re­ mained in the author's hands seven years, receiving touches here and there, and would not have been printed then had not a copy loaned to a friend bees printed. ~ Tourists Go to Manila. Manila is becoming a popular object ire point for tourists from Australia, a distinction which it could not gain tinder Spanish rule. The new order of things is regarded by merchants and hotel keepers with growing enthu- ,(Special Letter.) The president is beginning to be famous among other things fOr" big dinner parties^ for big lunches and in general for a large and generous hos­ pitality. He seldom or never lunches or dines alone, and ,more often his guests number hall a.dozeq. He is an ideal host. Mrs. Roosevelt did - not receive on Friday. There is a rumor that these agreeable afternoons have had to be given up. The crowd of selfish ego­ tists who insist on forcing themselves upon her privacy and pushing through the White House doors have obliged her to refuse to be at home to the few. Mfs. Harrison solved better, per­ haps. than any other president's wife the problem of informan gatherings. She found special invitations the only possible means of limiting the number of her guests; Those who remember her pleasant little musicales and even­ ings in the "upstairs" apartments al­ ways have regreUed theic. She gave the names of those invited to the door­ keepers and resolutely refused to re­ ceive outside intruders. Gen. Henderson of Jowa, the new speaker of the house, is one of the most popular men in Washington. Al­ ways approachable, he never seems to be too much overwhelmed with public business to^ grant a caller attention. Gen. Henderson was born in Scot-, land in 1840. At the age of six he was brought to the states, and shortly thereafter totfk up his residence in Iowa. He entered the forty-eighth congress representing the third con­ gressional district., and has r^mesent- ed that district in every congress up to this time. On the organization of the fifty-sixth congress be was elected speaker or the house, and has just been re-elected by the majority in the fifty- seventh congress to again preside over that body Gen. Henderson is. as h&p been dem­ onstrated bys%is overwhelming choice as speaker, extremely popular with his side of the chamber, and is highly es­ teemed by the democratic minority. - In the matter of legislation the gen­ eral has not taken a decided position on some of the questions upOn which the republicans in congress are more or less divided, such as the tariff. He thinks that me ship subsidy bill as presented to the fifty-sixth congress ought to be modified; he favors the Nicaraguan canal, but thinks it ought to be purely an American institution, without "an English accent in any syllable of it." He wants the re-en­ actment of the Geary, or Chinese ex-, elusion law; is in favor of the passage of the river and harbor bill, and gen­ erally believes in liberal legislation and appropriations. The speaker is more occupied at present with rirembers importuning him about good committee assignments than anything else. Old membera want to be advanced on committees, new members are anxious to get on im­ portant committees for £he purpose of getting some show. He handles them all in an easy, suave style, and while some leave nim disappointed, very few go away angry. Contrary to expectation, the throng of visitors at the White House has in­ creased, instead of diminishing, since congress came .to town and opened shop. Until this week the White House has been the center of attraction and arrivals at the capital have made a bee "line to "see the president." It was thought the ojienin^ of congress would draw the crowd toward the other $£d of Pennsylvania avenue, but it is ap­ parent tbe president will gain and not lose visitors by the assembling of the lawmakers. The people who are trying to raise money for the purpose of erecting a memorial arch to President" McKlnJey have devised a scheme to make tlie people of this city contribute. One of the largest theaters in the capital has been secured for each Sunday night during the winter. Prominent minis­ ters have been asked to deliver a lec­ ture during the winter admission to which shall be free. In the middle of the discourse the speakers are to pause long enough to permit the arch build­ ers to take up a col-lection, the pro­ ceeds of which will be devoted to the arch. Mr. David U. Henderson, of Iowa. REFORM IN HONOLULU. Japaaan Slave Trade Abolished by Ike New Regime. Honolulu seetns to be headed for re­ form. One of the first steps toward cleaning up the city was the closing of the Iwelei stockade, which was built under the old regime. Here the dis,- orderly women of the city, most of them slaves of Japanese masters, were compelled to livte. The stockade came to be looked upon as one of the sights of Honolulu, to be visited by tourists. The city had been divided from the first on the wisdom of the plan, and though it was successful enough in keeping vice out of the streets of the city its other features gradually earned its condemnation. It was a legaliza­ tion not only of vice, but also of the practical slave trade in which the Jap­ anese were engaged. When the <new territorial govern­ ment came into power the question was seriously considered and it was decided to abolish the system, the law under which it had been established being de­ clared in conflict with the act organ­ izing the territory. The high fence or stockade was torn down. Attempts by the Japanese to continue their trade in young girls or to reopen their dens in other parts of the city are being resisted vigor­ ously. \ HOMIOIDE IN AMERICA. Startling Figure* Show increasing Dis­ regard for Himai Life. A Louisville preacher has recently made the startling assertion that "home life Is safer in the dominions of the ameer of Afghanistan than it is in Kentucky. There are more mur­ ders In Louisville with 200,000 people than there are in London with its 7,000,000. There are more murders in Kentucky with its 2,000,000 people than in Great Britain with a population of 40,000,000. Finally, there are more murders In the United States than in the whole of Europe, with Italy and Turkey left out and Russia included." The Nashville American says--and who can deny--that "this statement is true." The American asseverates thai "no other civilized nation approaches this in the question of murder, and wfcich cor** to tt it* ;..v" , •: <i\-: vY- '4-v-l J. such countries as Italy and Turkey, where the assassin's knife is freely used and where men allow their anger and hate and disgraceful passions to rule their conduct. This nation hag a red record of which H should b« heartily ashamed." Joke on the "Towrlste." The poor Saxon "towrlst"--what he may suffer in the Emerald Isle! There is a story on record of three Irish­ men rushing away from the race meet­ ing at Punchestown to catch a train back t<y Dublin. At the moment a train from a long distance pulled up at the station, and the three men scrambled in. In tbe carriage was seated one* other passenger. As soon as they regained their breath one said: "Pat, have you got th' tickets?" ."What tickets? I've got me loife; I thought I'd have lot that gettin' in th' train. Have you got 'em, Moike?" "Oi! Begorrah, I haven't." "Oh^we're all done for thin," said the third. "They'll charge us roight from the other solde of Oireland." The old gentleman looked over his newspaper and said: "You are quite safe, gintlemen; wait till we get to the next station." They all three looked at each other. "Bedad, he's a dlrecthor--we're done for now entoirely." But as soon as the train pulled up the little gentleman jumped out and came back with three first class tick­ ets. Handing them to the astonished strangers, he said: "Whist, I'll tell ye how I did it. I wint along the thrain --^'Tickets,_ plaze; tickets, plaze,' I called, and these belong to three Saxon towrists in another carriage." There are scores of references in the Bible to the use of perfumes by the Hebrews both in their religions ser­ vices and in private life. Sxperlments are now being made by many European manufacturers as to the steam making economies of lean coal, with a view to using It. The coal fields of the south cover 60,000 square miles, seven times as large as those of G eat Britnin, Fnnco, Germany and Belgium fotrblm - THE O, It V & !t Jt - Mjr January 1st the Rock Island pects to be able to open for business its southwestern extension tc Si Paso* Tex. This line, in connection with th* Southern Pacific and the Mexican Cen­ tral railroads, will give the Rock Island the shortest line both to South­ ern California and the City of Mexico, ,and make it a dangerous competitor of the Santa Fe. It took just one year to - construct the 546 miles of the new tension from Liberal, Kan., to El Pa5, Tex. For the purpose of complying with the Texas law that every railroad within that state shall have state oper­ ating headquarters and also for general construction facilities and convenience^ the hew road was placed under the charters of five different railroad cor­ porations, vis.: The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific proper, the Cfiicago, Rock Island & Mexico, the Chicago, Rock Island & El Paso, the Rock Island & El Paso, and the EI Paso & North­ eastern. The road from Liberal to Santa Rosa, N. M., a distance of 272 miles, was placed under direct Rock Island construction, with J. H Coinlen, vice president of the Chicago, Rock Island & Mexico, as Chief Engineer and General Manager, while from Safe- ta Rosa to Carrizoso, a distance of 130 miles, the construction work was given to the El Paso & Northeastern, which already had a constructed line from El Paso to Carrizozo. The road from Lib­ eral to Carrizozo will be equipped witfc eighty-pound steel rails, oak or pitcft pine ties, and modern ballasting. Dec pot, side tracks," switches, station houses, yardings, water tanke, and Western Union telegraph lines have all kept pace with actual road building, and when the road is opened by thfc first of next year it will be in as perfedt • condition as any of the lines of th* Rock Island system that have been ia service for years. In connection with the Rock Island-El Paso line is th* new thirty-mile railroad which is to develop the immense Dawson coal fields, owned by the Rock Island, on the Beaubien and Miranda grant, in th* northern part of Colfax county, N. M. This road will leave the main Rock Island rails at or near Liberal station, twenty miles southwest of the Cana­ dian river crossing, and run through the New Mexican counties of San Mi­ guel, Mora and Colfax. This branch will be completed by May 15, 1902. Th*. coal is to feed the southeastern por­ tion of the Rock Island-El Paso line, and probably will largely supply the Southern Pacific railroad, in addition to a heavy domestic custom in that section of the country. The comple­ tion of the El Paso line will give th* Rock Island a route of 222 miles short­ er between Kansas City and El Paso than that of the Santa Fe between th* same points, together with a saving jf H;'!< • . hours oT time, the lait^r fact being largely due to the favorable alignment and maximum 1 per cent !jrade of the new Rock Island line. In connection with the Southern Pacific, the Rock Island will have a shorter line from Chicago to Los Angeles than will the Santa Fe. The construction cost of the Rock Island-El Paso line will approximate $7,000,000, an averag* of about $15,000 per mile.--Chicago Tribune. : NEW BOOK ON THE GRAND CANYON. The Santa Fe has in preparation, to be published some time in December, a new and magnificent book on th* Grand Canyon of Arizona. The pub­ lication comes at a fitting time, as travel to the Canyon has greatly in­ creased since the opening of the new railroad to the Rim, and a commodious Harvey hotel is in process of erection at the head of Bright Angel Trail. Th* book will commemorate these events-- events of vast importance in that land of silence--and will be worthy of its theme if the ablest pens in America' can make it so. It will be handsomely illustrated, and will contain about 128 pages of matter. Among the author* represented--most of whom wrote con* tributions especially for thiB work- may be mentioned; Hamlin Garland, the distinguished author of "The Bar gle's Heart" and other popular books; Charles F. Lummis, editor of "Ont West," and the chosen prophet of Adobeland; David Starr Jordan, presi­ dent of Stanford University; John L. Stoddard, the lecturer; Charles Dud­ ley Warner, up to the time of his death the dean of American authors; Major J. W. Powell, the daring explor­ er who led the first expedition down the Colorado, passing through the en­ tire length of the Grand Canyon; Har­ riet Monroe, the poet and journalist; "Fitz Mac," of Colorado Springs; Prof. R. D. Salisbury of the University of Chicago; Prof. Beecher of Yale, and Charles S. Gleed, the eminent Kansas lawyer. These and many others hav* made the book the finest of its kind. The exact date of publication has not yet been decided, but it is expected to appear before the end of 1901. Sounds Like Yankee Hanaer. Frederick Villiers, the well-known war artist and correspondent, tells of having seen the following sign in a prominent hotel in an Australian town where water was scarce: "Please don't use soap when washing, as the water Is required for tea." The Century Magazine will devote considerable space during the coming year to out-door improvement of cltie* and villages. The Improvements In " Washington city, planned by the Con- " gressional Commission, which are to develop the capital on a magnificent scaie, will be authoritatively set forth with official plans. A group of papers by Sylvester Baxter and others will carry the subject into .the small city and village, and are expected to satisfy the current inquiry as to how to go to work to beautify the town. ^ In The Atlantic Monthly for 1WI !*«>•••/,£ portant political papers will touchi upon "Disfranchisement and the Raos Question," "Education in the Philip­ pines and in Cuba," "Colonial JLegisla- 1 tures," "Army Reorganization," "Th* Normal Development of the Navy,** . and 'The Organisation of Labor,*' «tfc».< , etc. s In hi* Illustrated Mother GoosSh DepNtow hail done his best work. It on" luug of happy conceptions Interpret ftiK purest and the best of the moiiy jingles. Nobility of character manifests itself St loop-holes when it is not provids# . , irlth large doors.--Mary E. Wilkins; ^ ̂ . i f - - . ~