4
ITALIAN SHEPHERDS.
Description and Account of Their
Every-day Life.
-IETHODS OP HERDING. FIELD-CRAFT.
FLUTE PLAYING.
Inspiration Drawn from the Pastoral
Poem W rrltten by "Lorenzo, the
Magnificent"—Wakeman Continues
Ills Wanderings Among the Peas
ants of Italy.
{Regular Correspondence of the Sunday
L'nion. Copyright, 1591.]
Flouenck (Italy), Nov. 27,1890.
About the year 14-SO, at the dawn of the
golden age in Italy, there were daily
gathered at the table of the chief citizen
of Florence such men as Pulci, Filippino
Lippi, Botticelli, Ghirlandajo and Mich
ael Angelo. The host, whose wealth and
matchless attainments made him known
among the potentates and savants of
southern Europe as "Lorenzo, the Mag
nificent," wrote a pastoral poem of won
drous sweetness and power called "La
Nencia Da Barbarino." I was once in a
position (being an editor, worse luck!)
to have this little-known though surpass
ing composition translated for the first
time into English, in the original metre,
by no less a scholar and poet than Sir
Edwin Arnold. The poem, comprising
300 lines, depicts in simple though glow
ing words and imagery, the hopeless and
consuming passion of the shepherd-lad,
"Ravella," for a dainty peasant-girl,
"Nencia." One cannot read this lowly
life heart-cry without the awakening in
his own soul of a thrilling and commiser
ative tenderness for the humble lives it so
plaintively reveals; and it was with this
feeling that I sought, perhaps over-much
for the poetic and romantic side of the
picture, to know the real cvery-day lives
of those who tend the Hocks and herds of
Italy.
My first wanderings were in southern
Italy, the territory of olden Apulia.
Once this was part of Gnecia Magna. Its
great cities were Arpinum, Luceria, Arpi
and Canusium. Partly on foot, partly by
the antique cabriolet of provincial Italy,
partly by lettiga, the lectia of the ancient
Romans, and partly on the backs of tiny
donkeys of wondrous shaggiuess and
marvelous power, 1 made my way in a
zig-zag course back and forth across the
infrequently-traveled, little k now n.weird
and lonely, yet always transcendeutly
beautiful and fascinating peninsula. Up
wards of 300 castles, modern, medieval
and in ruins, striking recalling the splen
dor and decay of Ireland, wero counted.
The few remaining relics of Canna-, where
tho Romans met their crushing defeat of
B. C. 216, and where the historic city was
finally destroyed, in 1083, by Robert Guis
card, one of Tasso's heroes, were found.
Bari, upon tho Adriatic, as famous now
for its fish as in the time of Horace, was
seen. The ancient abbey and church of S.
Niccolo, where aro found the paintings of
one of tho earliest Italian masters, Viva
rini, and where in 1098, Pope Urban 11.
held the famous council which sought to
reconcile the Church of Greece with that
of Rome, was visited. I climbed past
Mclii, with its castlo of the old Norman
sovereigns, to the extinct volcano, Monte
Vulture, the "Apulian Vultur" of Hor
ace, whose crater, overgrown with oaks
and beeches, now contain two lakes,
perched above one of which is the most
eerie monastery of Europe, possibly ex
cepting Monserrat, Spain, and from whose
towers the blue waters of the Mediterra
nean on the went, and those of the Adri
atic on the east, could be discerned. I
tramped, too, with hundreds of return
ing pilgrims, camping with them at night
by the wayside; sat with the carrettajo as
his cart and ox waited by the fountains;
climbed to the shrines with the reveren
tial pilgrims; waited by tho mounting
blocks with roadside beggars; maue
countless and astounding excuses to get
into the interior of cabins for draughts of
aequa di latte and nanfa, butter-milk and
orange water, which you can get every
where in the country for the value of half
an American cent; straggled from town
to mountain with the pecore and his
flocks; assisted more than one shepherd
in building a rude hut of stone, after tho
manner of tho Pagan "bee-hive" cell
upon wind-swept moors; and alter mak
ing my home for a brief season among
the shepherds of the eastern mountain
range of Otranto, followed on foot, the
classic Appain Way to the shepherd
haunts of the olive and vine-girt hills of
Tuscany. Shepherds, shepherds every
where; "but nowhere was the dream of
shepherd-life breathing from "La Nen
cia," as the attar from the heart of a rose,
fulfilled.
One of the most interesting fects re
garding the shepherds of Southern Italy
is that they are not only a distinct class,
but, through holding themselves aloof
from all other peasant classes, are almost
a distinct race. In ancient times all this
country was subject to scourging depre
dations by the Saracens, to an extent re
quiring that people should herd together
in walled towns for protection of life and
property. Then nearly tlie entire popu
lation of old Aptdia were shepherds.
They drove their herds from the towns
to the mountains, returning for safety
at night. The descendants of these in a
direct line for more than 2,000 years are
doing that identical thing to-day, not for
safety, but from traditional custom. All
those who exist in Southern Italy to-day
"who are not shepherds, goatherds or
herdsmen, form the population of cities
and towns and comprise the contadini or
field laborers, and the ancestors of all
these may be said to have gradually
gradually grown away from the shep
herd's life, rather than that the shep
herds of our time are a product of new
forms of rural economic necessities.
They rarely intermarry with other
classes. When they do they instantly de
part from the flocks, are absorbed in the
lower orders of the cities, or become the
most desperately hopeless of the human
cattle that labor in the fields. The pride
in their own descent, in the exclusive
ness of their class, in the long line of
shepherd ancestry they can trace, amounts
almost to a passion. It is' practically the
one pride they possess. This isolation of
blood and interest has preserved interest
ing traces in physiognomy. They are
wonderfully Saracenic in their look. The
tall, slender, supple figure, the oval face
and shining skin, the neck, tiny at the
throat, spreading quickly and heavily in
protuberant muscles, like a broad-butted
tree, to the shoulders, the yellowish-blue
tinge of the white of the eye. the distended
nostrils and the dazzling teeth, all pro
nounce the Eastern origin and retained
physiological affinities.
In every part of Southern Italy you
will come upon a broad, grass-grown
highway. It is called the "traturo." For
twenty centuries it has served the same
purpose. It can be nearly likened to our
own vast western stock trails leading
from "grass to grass" when herds are
driven northward, fattening on their way
to the great live-stock markets. On this
"traturo" occurs the yearly spring exo
dus from the lower valleys aud coastwise
moors and marshes tothe Apulian moun
tain summer pastures. In the autumn,
hundreds of thousands return along these
ancient ways. During the winter the
herdsmen and shepherds live in town
hovels, or in huts near the towns and
villages. The herds and flocks are then
driven out to and returned from daily
grazing. But in tho summer time on the
mountain sides is the real out-door life of
the guardian of the flocks and herds.
Whether he be herdsman, goatherd or
shepherd, he is usually given charge of a
flock or herd of from fifty to 100 animals.
Among the cattle, and herding in com
mon with them, are largo numbers of a
species of buffalo, smaller and less
hairy than the now extinct American
bison. In a herd of 100 cattle,
twenty will be provided with un
musical bells. In a flock of as many
aheep twice aa many will have bells.,
some of which are exceedingly melodi
ous; and the quality of his l>ells are of
more concern to the Apulian shepherd
than that of his sheep. The latter are
odd little poddy creatures. Nearly all
are black. Their legs and hoofs are black
and shiny as ebony drum-sticks. Their
eyes are exceedingly small and a brilliant
yellow; while the little creatures are as
agile as chamois. Weird, strange groups
are these which follow the flocks and
herds to the mountains. Nearly every
shepherd of southern Italy is married.
He marries young. He rears, or rather
there grows, seemingly all unconscious
to himself, a large family. The sons
marry other shepherds' daughters; the
daughters, other shepherds' sons. Him
self, perhaps born in the grass by the side
of the "traturo," in a clett of some rock
in the edge of a torrent's gravina, or in
some low hut on hill or moor, he emerges
from babyhood to childhood a nomad; is
a nomad in youth and manhood; he mates
as a nomad; and never ceases a nomadic
life until the quicklime of some village
Campo Santo consumes his bones. So
that to every flock belongs a family.
The tatterdemalion group possesses no
home but that of the daily grazing land of
the flock. Their sole possessions never
equal five dollars in value. Their total
earnings do not exceed eleven cents per
day. Like Wallachian Gypsies, they
squat anywhere for rest and sleep, and eat
anything that will susUiin lire. If they
possess a single aspiration ou earth, it is
that secret one of so many other Italian
field and moor laborers to "take to the
hills," that is, to become outright brig
ands. Universal indolence and repug
nance to effort are safeguards against this.
Tho Apulian shepherd himself is a pic
turesque fellow enough, despite your con
sciousness of his vacuous ignorance, his
unvarying cruelty to his flocks, ana his
utter sodden, rather than active, brutality
to his wife and children, who serve as his
pack-mules, like the American squaws,
for transporting his slender belongings to
the hills. Tall, and straight as an arrow,
he is clad from head to foot in undressed
skins. A bifurcated garment of untanned
hide, fashioned after the pattern of that
one so well known to American dress re
form ladies, forms a sort of waistcoat and
trowsers combined. The latter areopened
at the sides, below the knees oiten display
ing gaudy buttons ornamenting the sides
of his half-gaiter, undressed skin boots.
Over his waistcoat is a long,,loose armless
jacket of hide, provided with numberless
pockets, his rain-proof storehouses of
meager treasures. A jaunty, brigandish
hat sets perkily upon his fine, curly head,
and brings into striking relief his olive
skin, his large, grave eyes, and crinkly,
curly beard—a half Egyptian type, one
would say, to see it represented iv paint
ing. Slung from his right shoulder across
his left hip by a broad band of hide, with
occasionally the priceless treasure of a
polished brass or bronze buckle, is the in
separable capsella or shepherds' pouch.
A rusty carbine, which is never dis
charged, or a stout staff' as high as his
breast—but never the shepherds' crook of
olden tales and modern tableaux vivants
—complete the picture. And it is always
a picture; for this fellow with the face of
an apostle and the eyes of a saint is so
deliciously languid and inexpressibly
lazy, that his splendid form is forever in
pose and repose.
On_the mountain sides the life of this
shepherd lamily is a changeless one the
whole summer long, unless the terrible
hail-storms of southern Italy fall upon
the mountains, or the still more destruct
ive wind-storms, that frequently fling
both sheperds and flocks from the crags
to death, come whistling over peak or
howling through gravina. Then the hu
man marmot awakens from his lethargy
and accomplishes prodigeous feats of
strength and wondrous acts of valor, in
rescuing endangered members of the
flock or of his own terrified brood. His
food is polenta and chestnut-flour bread.
He is the one Italian who drinks water
instead of wine. His field-lore, though
unconscious to himself, is marvelous.
When spurred by extreme hunger, all
mountain moorland birds are doomed
where ho sets his snare. It is a wild,
strange, melancholy land he looks down
upon, if he have the energy for looking.
His wife and children around him are as
voiceless aa himself and his flocks. The
very melody of the sheep-bells becomes a
meaningless din. One carries away from
hisonvironmentand companionship with
him only a pathetic sense of his hopeless
ness and degradation. You can only re
member him as another animal in hairy
hide, insensate to the trumpetings of eter
nal nature around him. The sheep
browsing at his side are his equals in in
telligence; his superiors in demonstrable
forces and activities. The lone kestral
wheeling above this Apulian shepherd
has a wider horizon of view.
But there are other shepherds in Italy
of whom a sunnier picture can be drawn.
These are the shepherds and shepherd
esses of tho peasants' lesser flocks in
Piedmont, in Lombardy, in radiant Tus
cany, and even in pestiferous, death
breeding Maremmc, on tho Tyrrhene Sea.
There aro many among these who, like
the Apulian shepherds, have descended
from shepherd ancestors, and who all
their lives soddenly follow the one voca
tion. But in the main they aro the little
folks and the youths and wives of all the
peasantry. In northern Italy tho peas
antry are a happier folk than those of the
South. The beauty of the cities, quaint
ness and peacefulncss of the villages and
hamlets, the radiance of the valleys and
the noble picturesqueness of tlio forests
and mountains, seem to have given a re
flexive peacefulness, sunniness and even
virility to the people. Their shepherds
do not possess the grave, sad, vacuous
faces of the South. Companionship ac
counts largely for this. In the North the
shepherd is always one of the villagers.
He or she shares their every-day life.
The feasts, espousals, marriages, funerals,
all are theirs for enjoyment and contem
plation. Nearly every family has its own
little flock. Often several of these are
merged into a larger flock and taken to
the higher mountain lands for the entire
summer. In such cases a shepherd and
his family accompany them, and they
live much as do their kind in Apulia. In
October the same flock will be driven to
the moors and marshes of Marcuime,
where the shepherd and his family sub
sist almost entirely on snared wild, fowl,
which come here in myriads to escape
tlie winters of the British Isles, the Bal
tic regions and the German forests.
But tens of thousands of little flocks
led by tens of thousands of little shep
herds and shepherdesses leave the village
groggia or sheep-fold and home every
morning, for the higher glades. Some
times a dog, often a pig trained to herd
the flocks, goes with them. If a maiden
has charge of the flock, she will have her
spindle of knitting, and will work and
sing and tend her flock the whole day
long. If a lad or stripling tend a flock,
he will let the pig or the dog tend the
sheep, with an occasional moment of ex
ecutive observation, and the rest of the
day he gathers mushrooms, hunts the
young of birds, and all of which are
eagerly eaten, save those of the swallow
and hawk, snares forest fowl, or pipes
on his flute in idle fantasy. Both must
bring a back-load of ferns, grass, oak,
elm or vine leaves, with the flocks at
night. Some of this is for temporary use;
but the winter store is chiefly thus gath
ered. 1 have counted more than 100 of
these little flocks descending from the
mountains with the shepherds at even
tide. The valleys are voiceful with thou
sands of tiukling bells, with the notes
from hundreds of shepherds' flutes, with
the trilU of scores of shepherds' songs.
Then, as the shadows fall softly upon the
hamlets, comes the housing of the sheep
in the greggia, and the pastoral yields to
the prosaic while "Ravella" and "Nen
cia" gain new strength for the morrow
from their bowl of steaming polenta, or
porridge of crushed white beans.
Edgar L. Wakeman.
"Say, Hold On, Boss."
A colored couple called on a well
known ••lergyman in Boston recently to
be married. They were accompanied* by
another couple, who came to "stand up"
with the bridegroom and bride. Tlie
quartet stood in line, and by a queer mis
understanding of the requirements of the
occasion the "contracting parties" got
separated, the man standing at one end of
the line aud the woman at the other
The clergyman, supposing they were
properly stationed, said: "You take this
woman to bo your lawful and wedded
wife " "Say, hold on, boss! de wo
man dat I'm gom' to marry am at de oder
end of de line; I'm not goin' to marry dis
yer gal." Tho extremes met and the
ceremony was begun again and finished
without interruption,
THE STjyPAY UNlpy, SACRAMENTO, CAL., JANUARY 11, 1891.-EIGHT FAGKE9.
RED BLUFF.
How Hoffman Was Banquetted
and Fulfills His Promise.
WHERE ORANGE TREES GROW LIKE
A POET'S DREAM.
One Might Plant a Lemon In tho Morn
ing and Drink a Lemonade on the
Same Spot In the Evening—The
Truthful Real Estate Man.
[Special Correspondence of Sunoat Union."
Three weeks ago, while I was in the
beautiful little city of Red Bluff, I was
given a reception by tho solid citizens.
Alter nearly an entire night had been
spent at a banquet, which was the most
gorgeous tiling of Its kind I over saw, I
was escorted to my headquarters by the
Philharmonic Glee Club, which sang,
"We Won't Go Home 'Till We're Sober,"
"Up iv a Balloon, Boys," "Johnny Ward,
Get Your Gun," and other mellow old
melodies, that made the welkin ring. (I
don't know what a welkin is, never hav
ing had one of my own, but there is one
in Red Bluff.)
The next day a committee of three men
called upon me, and their foreman spoke
as follows:
"Mr. Hoffman, we have here in the
midst of tliis bloomin' garden of the uni
corn—l mean the universe—one of the
prettiest little towns I guess you ever
saw. She's a real beauty. On ev'ry hand
there lies the green fields of golden yaller
wheat—only they ain't yaller yet, bein'
as the seed ain't all in the ground on ac
count of our bein' put behind with our
plowin'—and on either side of us rises
the towers and steeples of the onward
path of Progress, which the watchword
of it is allers Westward Ho! Here we
has our homes, and here we lives by the
sweat of our brows. We has resources,
sir, that would make your hair to stand
on end like the quills on the forgetful
porkapine. Wo has lands that perjuice
bounteously, and we can offer to the
world at large the wonderfuHost induce
ments to settle in this here town. We
has a town clock, sir, which strikes out
the hours disregardless of expense, and
is heard in the land along with the turtle.
Ami now, sir, we has como to you to
state that tho boys got up a bang-up feed
in honor of you last night, and we ask,
sir, that you do write Up a genuine simon
pure puff for us. We has read your
scripture in the papers, and we know you
can perjuice a good article if you want to.
And right here let me remark, young fel
ler, that if you don't perjuice a good arti
cle, there'll be somethin' covered with
coal tar and feathers lioatin' on the bosom
of the Sacramento river the very next
time you put in an appearance in this
here beautiful, law-abidin' and peaceful
little city. That'sail,sir. Good day, sir."
Then they marched out. 1 have since
learned that the three men were three fel
lows who think they own tho town, and
who wero not at the banquet for certain
reasons kuown to the Committee ou In
vitation.
But it is a fact that Red Bluff is a beau
tiful little city. It sits enthroned upon the
banks — principally upon the western
bank—of the Sacramonto river, but the
people do not use the waters of this
streayi for drinking purposes. They get
their drinking and cooking fluids from
the hills northeast of the town, and from
the various places of sin which are found
scattered promiscuously here and there
along the streets. The river, however, is
not a lost quantity. In the summer
months tho people use it for swimming,
and also for angling purposes. On Sun
days it is not unusual to see a long line of
the solid citizens standing in the shallows
where the water is not above their short
ribs, with rods in their hands and enor
mous strings of real carp and catlish
hanging from their necks.
Red Bluff is pretty, orderly and quiet.
It never gets on the "warpath" and paints
itself a lurid, gory hue. It is a city of
homes, where there is peace and plenty,
and no man covets his neighbor's man
servant or maid-servant. The backbone
of the place is wheat, and its spinal mar
row is the railroad. It is unshaken by
booms, and the price of iand and bread
and whisky is reasonable enough for any
body. Thero are never any riots there,
and the people go right along about their
business, are born, marry, grow old
and die without the least suspicion of
a fuss. There are no extraordinary
hard times; no busting of banks and
failure of firms. There are vineyards
and orchards and wheat fields and facto
ries. There are figs and olives, oranges
and lemons. There is enterprise and
prosperity and several churches. There
is health aud wealth and happiness and
three daily papers that never toot their
own horns loud enough. There is life and
enjoyment, hilarity and pleasure and
babies on the block. There are a great
many very beautiful young ladies and a
great many handsome young men who
belong to Company 1). There is a sash
factory and a round-house and a large
number of rich widows, who went there
for their health and have remained there.
Thero is a city Jug and a city pound and
several places of sin. Also a Salvation
Army oi two soldiers and several real
estate agencies. All the real estate men
are kept busy doing something.
The people who live in Red Bluff are
the best people in the world. That is,
some of them are. They were all made
to order, aud when the contract was fin
ished the molds were broken up and
smelted into rakes and door-knobs. They
are all healthy, and so energetic that they
wear out annually 400,000 pairs of tailor
made pants. They generally live to a
ripe old age and either die in peace or in
pieces. Is that puffy enough O, ye cits
of Red Bluff?
Red Bluff has been called "The City of
Cats." Cats grow there spontaneously,
like Jonah's gourd, and live very long
and useful lives, liko Metlmselah or tlie
Wandering Jew. As they age they grow
mellow, and acquire a deep, rich tone,
and when they vibrate it is as though the
arch-fiend had stretched a bass string
aci'OM the sky and was thrumming it
with a cyclone. If a stranger should kill
ii cat tbere he would perish miserably.
When a cat dies at Red Bluff he is gently
skinned and stuffed and mounted on the
piauo, where he continues to vibrate un
til he sheds tears of straw, when he is
laid away at the foot of an orange tree in
order that nothing may be lost.
The real estate men were very kind to
me. They took me out for long drives
and longer walks, and showed me tlie
country, pointing out the best places as
we ambled along. I saw spots where or
anges would grow like a poet's dream;
where olive vines would nourish; where
limes could be made to produce twenty
barrels of lime to tlie acre; where .one
might plant a lemon in the morning and
drink a lemonade on the same spot in the
evening. They also told me that good old
story about the melon vines growing so
fast that the little melons were bumped to
pieces on the ground.
We passed little garden spots where
large colonies of owls sat over their bur
rows and twisted their heads round and
round and round without twisting them
off. ' I tried to get one to twist his head off
by running around him in a circle, but it
didn't twist. I tried it for an hour and
gave it up. The agent who was with me
said it could be done, but I was in a hurry
just then. I have discovered since that
that particular agent had never heard of
George Washington.
I was shown the beautiful city which
was founded by Sam'l o' Poseri, where
I the people are invisible and the streets are
of solid gold, also invisible, and the gates
are of pearl and jasper, also invisible.
We did not enter the town, but stood afar
off and gazed at it in wonder
and admiration. There is a wonderful
wealth of scenery around the city of
Sam'l o' Poseu, but, like everything else,
it is invisible. It was created" by magic.
•rhere is a beautiful little legend which
1 tells how Sam'l o' Posen was born of
1 poor but honest parents, and was com-
pelled to go out to work for a living at a
tender age, and for a long time debated
with himself whether he should go upon
the road and stand up stages or go upon
the stage and stand up the road. He
finally chose the latter course. Just as he
was leaving the home of his youth, with
a tear in his eye and a bundle of new
toothpicks in his valise, he perceived in
the road a curious stone which resembled
brass. He picked it up and attempted to
rub the dust away. Straightway there
was a crack in the air, and a great genii,
called a Boomer, stood before him, say
ing:
"Sam'l o' Posen, what will you? lam
tho slave of the brass. Flip your jaw;
your wish is law. I will obey whatever
you say—l and the other slaves of tho
brass!"
Sam'l o' Posen had heard of Alladin,
and he was not such a fool as he looked.
He made the old slave work, but he never
wished for anything but money, and
money took wings. Ono day he was in
Chicago, busted, as usual. "He took out
his magic brass and rubbed it, and the
genii appeared and said:
"Sam'l o' Posen, flip your Jaw!
Whatever you say to n>e Is law.
Roily dv whack fa lollah!"
"Old feller," said Sam'l, "I wish I had
a city of my own."
""iour wish is granted," said the old
boomer, and he told Sammy where it was,
and helped him make a plat and maps,
and Sam'l put some of the best lots on tho
market and was never busted any more.
Soe. Tho beautiful city of Sam'l o' Posen
is there unto this day.
I did agree to write a short biographi
cal sketch of forty-seven prominent citi
zens of Red Bluff, but I really haven't
the time just now. I will say, however,
that the prominent citizens of Red Bluff
aro noted for something, but what it i*l
cannot remember just at present.
I will add a word in praise of the police
forco of the town. I never met more
efficient gentlemen than those who w ear
the pewter in the stronghold of Tehama
county. So anxious were they that I
should not bo sand-bagged or stood up,
they followed mo continually during my
stay in the place, and kept a ailigcutlook
out when I was meandering through tho
suburbs, for which I am very thankful,
as it is very disagreeable to be sand
bagged in a strange town simply because
the constabulary are not on the alert.
A. V. Hoffman.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
One of tho most beautiful frontispieces
ever produced in an American magazine
appears in tho January number of the
"Cosmopolitan." It is a reproduction iv
colors ot Francois Flemeng's famous pic
ture "The Cake Seller." It is ono of the
most charming of subjects. The "Cos
mopolitan" has become noted of late for
its frontispieces and this very much ex
cels its previous efforts. The "Cosmopoli
tan" claims that it ran up from a 10,000
edition at the close of 1888, to 100,000
copies December, 1890. This remarkable
increase has kept pace with the change in
the character of the names which ap
peared upon its table of contents. Among
those for January aro Mrs. Van Rens
selaer Cruger, Frank Dempster Sherman,
Henry George, William H. Rideing,
Hjalmar Iljorth Boyesen, Edward Ever
ett Hale, Gertrude Franklin Atherton,
Murat Halstead, John J. a'Becket, (.'ol.
Charles W. Lamed, F. O. C. Darley (post
humous), Elizabeth Bisland, probably as
strong a collection of names as ever"ap
peared in any number of an illustrated
magazine in this country. The number
contains the first of two parts of Mrs. Van
Rensselaer Crugor's novel, Mademoiselle
Rc.-eda. Another paper is from the pen
of Miss Bisland, describing a visit to tlie
People's Palace in London. A most in
teresting posthumous paper by F. O. C.
Darley, with his own illustrations, is also
given. A'Beckct's clever story, "Don
Gracias," is illustrated in a novel man
ner, tho well-known actors, Sothorn and
Miss Harr.ud, having consented to pose
for the situations of the novel, the results
being reproduced in photogravure.
•• Mrs. Burton Harrison, whose fame has
been greally enhanced by her "Anglo
maniacs," is the subject of tho engraved
protrait in the January "Book Buyer."
The accompanying sketch of Mrs. Harri
son's life proves entertaining. The paper
suggesting titles for a SSOO library, made
np of either historical or biographical
works, which.the publishers oiler to the
winner of the grand prize in the scheme
which was -explained in the Christinas
number. Tho prize, a library of books to
tho value of $500, selected from tho cata
logues of any American publishers, is
certainly one to spur book-lovers to ex
traordinary exertions. The other features
of the "Book Buyer," the illustratious,
reviews, sketches, readings, answers to
correspondents, etc., are as readable and
entertaining as usual.—Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York.
The Bancroft Company, San Francisco,
has just issued the most complete and
elaborate railway, stage and shippers'
manual that has ever appeared upon the
Pacific coast. It is simply exhaustive,
and every possible detail that can be of
interest to shippers or travelers is set
forth. We like tho arrangement of the
work. It has been made up in divisions
of roads and routes, not by classifying
places alphabetically after the old style.
ln that respect it is an infinite improve
ment. Certainly no guide-book so com
plete, so fully meeting every possible
reasonable desire for information, has
ever before been presented to the public
of tho Pacific.
The Bancroft Company, San Francisco,
has its "San Francisco Blue Book and
Pacific Coast Elite Directory" for the
season of 1890-91. It contains tho fash
ionable private address and ladies' visit
ing and shopping guide. It gives the
county residences of the fashionables of
San Francisco, reception days, club lists,
•etc., and includes those of a number of
iuterior towns and cities and of the Cali
fornia Colony in New York.
"Little's Living Age" for January 3d
(Little & Co., Boston), is made up of pa
pers from the "Contemporary Review,"
"Murray's Magazine," "The Quarterly,"
and tho "National Reviews," "Temple
Bar," "The Gentleman's Magazine," and
"The Speaker." The "Age" gives weekly
to its readers the cream of tho English
magazines and reviews. It is an admir
able journal and one of the oldest in the
nation.
■ "Idle Hours" is a volume of veryhappv
verse, by W. DeWitt Wallace, from the
press of G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York;
The Bancroft Company, San Francisco.
Mr. Wallace has true poetic spirit. There
are as yet some evidences of want of
care, some stooping to common phrases
and subjects, but on the whole we should
say that Mr. Wallace is a poot with the
inspiration of true genius.
Dr. Edward 1 Brooks, A. M., lias through
the Pennsylvania Publishing Company,
issued a handsome octavo volume tliat
tells "The Story of Iliad, or the Siege of
Troy" for boys and girls. It is a well
told translation of the Homeric narrative
and poem, and will serve well to intro
duce youth to classical reading.
"Our Little Ones and the Nursery"
(Russell Publishing Company, Boston),
makes its January number a holiday is
sue. It is handsomely illustrated and
well filled with excellent matter for the
very young.
Of the "Riverside Paper Series" we
have from Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Bos
ton, Henry James Jr.'s novel "Confi
dence." It is the seventh edition of the
novel.
The Ruling Passion.
They were teaching the swell little New
York girl how to count.
"Three-hundred and ninety-seven,
three hundred and ninety-eight, three
hundred and ninety-nine, four hundred,"
said the mother.
And the child followed correctly.
"Four hundred and one," continued
the mother.
But the child stopped.
"Go on," said the mother, "you are
doing very nicely."
"No, mamma," she said with dignity,
"I can't go beyond the 400."
And there she stuck.— Washington Star.
Everybody Isn't a Mother.
"Yes," remarked the clergyman, "the
character is mainly formed by the way
a boy is brought up. My mother always
trusted me."
"My mother trusted me, too," said the
seedy-looking man, "but everybody ain't
a mother. There's the grocer, for in
stance."—Cape Cod Item.
RELIGIOUS OPINION.
Expressions from the Various
Religious Newspapers.
CURRENT TOPICS DEBATED FROM
DD7FERENT STANDPOINTS.
The Religions Thought of the Bay as
Expressed In the Sectarian Press-
Some Matters of Interest to Both
Ministers and Laymen,
The Christian Advocate (Meth.) says:
"The compliment given by a layman to
his pastor, printed some time ago, that
'he was a great preacher, who never fell
below his average and often rose above
it,' has been outdone by another, who
writes us that his pastor *is a true minis
ter, a man of God—more than that, a man
of brains.' Perhaps ho means that in ad
dition to piety he has a strong intellect,
but the language is somewhat equivocal.
The more brains a religious pastor has tho
greater his success; but a minister of in
tellect without piety is not likely to build
up the Church, though he may draw a
crowd."
The Nashville Christian Advocate
(Meth.) says: "The affluence of life in the
Apostolic Church is ono of its marked
features. The life was too strong for pro
gramme, too overflowing for ruts, too
fresh and full for stiffness, too ardent to
be chilled or checked by formality. Tho
opulence of tho spiritual life burst out
spontaneously, joyously. The Holy
Ghost was on them in power, and every
thing was full and quickened and
mightily stirred by His presence. The
fullness of life, a stirring, talking, work
ing life, was theirs. Silenceanddeadness
were strangers to their assemblies."
The Interior (Pres., Chicago) offers
the following comment: "The Living
Church, Episcopal, is out in favor of
opening the Columbian Fair on Sunday-^
limiting its advocacy to the 'parks, hills
and conservatories.' 'You may shelter
your head in my tent,' said the Arab to
the camel, 'but you must keep your body
outside.'" But the Living Church says
in answer: "If the parable is fairly ap
plicable to our position, we venture to
say it is applicable to the actual home use
of the Interior's admirable editor. We
do not think he would deprive his guests
of the privilege of looking at the beauti
ful pictures and flowers in his own house,
on the Lord's day, nor forbid them to
walk in his grounds. Why should Chi
cago impose a 'Sabbath' regulation upon
her guests that a good Presbyterian elder
would not (we presume) enforce in his
own house?"
The Observer (Pres.) says: "The Els
merians have come to tho conclusion that
'whatever does not happen in this nine
teenth century, never lias and never can
happen.' Following that line of argu
ment, we should logically conclude that if
the nineteenth century does not produce
a Jesus or a Nazareth, no period of the
world's history has ever done so. Ana
lyzed, tho proposition, as stated, involves
the principle that nothing can happen
in one century that does uot in another.
No other century ever produced any
thing so comprehensive and so profound
as the namby-pamby nonsense of Robert
Elsmcre. The philosophy of the Els
mcrians will lead them into a maze from
which they cannot extricate themselves.
Meanwhile, men by millions will con
tinue to believe in the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from among the dead, and,
believing in him who is the Resurrection
and the Life, will be saved."
"Far niton" says in the Advance; "I
like to study the development of minis
ters, or the failure of ministers to de
velop. A good many ministers I meet
not ot'tener than once a year. Such in
frequency of meeting gives better ground
for testing the progress of ministers than
a frequent meeting. I have been struck
by what seems to me to be tho failure of
ministers to develop in mind and heart.
I find that several of them do not now
speak as well as they spoke five or eight
years ago. This decline, I think, is more
common among ministers of largo
churches than of small; more common
among ministers that havo large relations
With the public than among those who
live more private lives. I infer, there
fore, that the minister whose relations are
many and the calls for whose services are
diverse and frequent, has a much harder
task to develop himself than the minister
whose labor is more secluded. If I were
to utter a word of warning to any of the
popular preachers of the time, it would
be: 'Your intellect will go to pieces upon
the rock of popularity. At 55, when you
ought to be in your prime and still
growing, you will bo in your decline, if
you do not give heed to yourself.'"
The Rev. J. R. Slattery, writing on the
negro question in the Catholic World,
says: "Just here the influence of many
Catholics is cast against the negroes. In
the Protestant South they enjoy the right
of working at all trades. Not so in the
North, where the Church has her strong
hold. The great bulk of the trades-union
ists arein many cities of the North Cath
olics; yet they leave no opening to the ne
groes for the learning of trades. A friend of
mine lately employed a negro. All his
fellow-workmen, every one of them a
Catholic, struck immediately. They
would nqf. work with a 'nigger.' Much
the same Complaint can be made against
our colleges and professional schools; of
the former but two or three receive ne
groes, and of the latter there is none that
I knew of which has a negro studying
for a profession. The same may said of
our convent schools. This is more sur
prising as the communities in charge of
Catholic institutions of learning, with a
handful excepted, are European founda
tions ; like our own ancestors, these so
cieties are importations. Yet, in institu
tions of the same societies in that Europe
whence they have come to us, no distinc
tion is made between white and black ; is
it not strange to find it here in free
America? A young lady, the daughter
of one of our oldest Catholic families,
told me that in the French convent
in which she passed eight or nine years of
her girlhood were negro girls as dark as
midnight; yet the order which was in
charge of the school will not receive a
black child iuto any of the fifty or sixty
houses which it has in our land."
The Independent says: "It has come to
be a rule among all our Protestant de
nominations, with the exception of the
Episcopalians, that they will put the total
burden of all the work (in a parish) upon
ono salaried pastor. It matters not
whether it be a church of fifty members
or of 2,000, that one man must conduct
the whole of all the services on the Sab
bath, must prepare all the sermons with
out exchanging, must do all the visiting,
must bury all the dead. Of course he
cannot do this work as it should be done
in a large church. This is beyond the
capabilities of human nature. It is a cru
elty to ask it of any man. But worse
than all this cruelty to tho pastor is the
injury done to the church itself. The
church ceases to be a well-managed or
ganization; it becomes a mob flocking
about a preacher, and a preacher who is
unable to do anything more than provide
an attractive pulpit. The minister is not
for the church, but the church for the
minister. The real work for which a
church exists must in large part be ne
glected. It cannot engage in aggressive
work; or, if aggressive work is under
taken, it must depend upon irregular
and ili-organized volunteer services, sup
plemented perhaps by a Bible reader or a
nurse. It is not strange that the churches
which conduct their business on business
principles and provide men to do their
work are the successful churches. They
have their roots grown deep in the hearts
of their people; they are not in danger of
dissolution when one man goes. If the
Protestant churches of our large cities
and towns propose to do good work and
to reach the people they must increase
their force of paid laborers. They must
have a body of assistant ministers who
have the time to do their duties, to visit
the sick, to care rfor the poor, to conduct
meetings, to direct mission operations
and to compose a council to consider all
sorts of good church work. The news-
paper which puts all its editorial work
mainly on one man is fifty years behind
the times, and the large city church
which has but one ipastor is as much be
hind the times."
Eds. Sunday Union: Baptists have not
altogether forgotton the hardships which
they in an early day endured in conse
quence of an established religion, or
quite renounced their first principles de
claring for religious freedom, and a total
separation of church and State. In the
Canadian Baptist of November 13,1890,
occurs the following editorial note: "The
Presbyterian Synod for New York re
cently sent a deputation to the New York
State Baptist Pastors' Conference, Which
met in connection with the State Conven
tion in Lockport, asking their aid in an
effort to rescue the compulsory teaching
of the essential doctrines of the Christian
religion and morals in the public schools.
The Pastors' Conference, by a rising vote,
adopted a report declining to accede to
the request, and declaring that the State
shouldhave nothing to do with the teach
ing of religious doctrines. A Baptist Con
ference could have made no other reply."
If church and State are to be kept separ
ated in this country, and religious free
dom is to be enjoyed as the founders of
our Government intended it should be,
no other reply should be made to such
requests. The Baptists are evidently on
the right side of this question. It is to be
wondered, however, if those who favor
compulsory religious instruction in the
public schools will noW class the Bap
tists, as they have others who oppose the
theory, with infidels, foreigners, saloon
keepers and thugs, and say they are ene
mies to God, the Government, good re
ligion and humanity. W. M. £__U_ET.
ART NOTES.
Caldor Marshall, R. A., has placed his
resignation in the hands of tho President
of tho Royal Academy, and will forth
with join the ranks of tho "retired." He
is the Nestor of the Royal Academy, hav
ing been elected associate in 1844, and full
academican in 1852, eighteen years beforo
Mr. Hook, who now becomes tho senior
member of the Academy.
As a writer and speaker, Premier de
Freycinct, who has just been elected a
member of the French Academy, has a
thin, elegant and lucid style. lie excels
in clear statement, an orderly marshaling
of facts, and delicate though striking in
nuendo. In arguing most he never seems
to argue, but gently compels his hearers
to deduce the conclusions at which ho
wishers them to arrive. He is a delightful
fireside talker, and one of the best chess
players in France. The English of tho
new academican is almost as fluent and
felicitous as his French.
George T. Brewster, who designed tho
figure "Indiana" fortheSoldiers'and Sail
ors' Monument to be erected at Indian
apolis, is a native of Massachusetts. He
is not yet 28 yeara of age. His first work
was "Homer and Shepherd." exhibited
in the Paris Solon in 1883. When he re
turned from his studies in Paris he was
associated with J. Q. A. Ward, his prin
cipal work being on the Garfield monu
ment in Washington. For two years he
has been engaged on the Cleveland mon
ument, which is to be surmounted by a
figure of "Liborty." His "Indiana" will
be the largest bronze female figure ever
cast in this "country. The figure proper
is 22 feet high, and stands on a globe 18
feet high.
Prince Victor of Hohenlohe has com
pleted the plaster cast of the life-size
statue of the Princess of Wales subscribed
for by English ladies. When the marble
statue is finished it will be placed in the
Royal College of Music. Prince Victor is
said to have succeeded in producing a
striking presentment of the Princess.
She is represented in the doctor's cap and
gown belonging to her Dublin musical
degree. Her right hand, the wrist en
circled by a plain gold bracelet, holds
back the heavy embroidered folds of tho
fown, and discloses the plainly pleated
'rench merino dress which she wears
when in academic costume, while the left
hand grasps a roll of music. The only
other ornament is a small harp-shaped
brooch, which fastens the neck of the
gown. Both the Prince and Princess of
Wales have expressed their great satisfac
tion at the work. In an adjoining work
shop at St. James Palace studio the com
panion figure of the Prince of Wales in
Field Marshal's uniform is already in the
marble stage, though it will not be fin
ished for eight or nine months. This,
too, is an admirable -likeness. The ped
estal of green serpentine marble is also in
active preparation, and will be sur
rounded by a gilt wreath of flowers, in
cluding the rose, shamrock, thistle and
leek, together with tiie lotus of India.
In the best portraits of all schools of
painting we find invariably that they
carry in themselves the evidence that
possess two qualities without which, we
are agreed, they never could be placed
among the great works of art that endure
for all time. Character and truth are
written in their every line, and we need
no personal testimony to convince us that
the painter has not given us an impress
ion of his sitter thai is uncharacteristic,
just as we can see for ourselves that he
has not been untruthful in his presenta
tion of facts. Tho masters have had dif
ferent ways of expressing truth and char
acter, and where some have insisted on
detail, others have summarized and se
lected; Holbein, who omitted nothing, is
not more true than Velasquez, who
omitted much. Among all the great
painters the analysts and synthesists have
this in common, that the first thing to be
sought for in art is truth, and this they
have always attained, no matter how
widely they may havo differed in method.
After truth comes beauty, for wo cannot
have the second without the first, and it
is here that so many modern portrait
painters are deficient. It is not enough
to transcribe facts in nature, and present
them as nearly as possible as they look,
the manner in which they are presented
is what makes the picture. It is not suffi
cient to pose one's sitter in a favorable
light, and paint him on a canvas as he
stands, and put a frame around it. There
is one place on the canvas, and one only,
where the head ought to be, and if it is an
inch too high or too low, or an inch too
far to one side, something is lost. There
is one part of it where the light should be
strongest.and another part where it should
be most subdued; if this is not felt and the
masses are not placed where each tells to
the best advantage on the other, some
thing more is lost. If the space about the
figure is not properly proportioned above
and below and on either side, if the hands
are not placed where they balance in ther
composition, the picture loses in style.
If, in short, tlie composition is not stud
ied in line, in mass, and in color, we
shall have little more to look at in the
picture than a chance attitude as tho pho
tographer gives it. It may be in one
sense characteristic, but it is not dignified
or sober, or graceful or beautiful, as the
case may be. The painter who com
plains that the public cares for little but
the likeness in a portrait ought to know
that the public must be taught, and that
it will never care for the other things,
and consider a portrait as it ought to be
considered —as a picture—until it has the
evidence constantly put before its eyes
that bare truth is one thing and that
beautiful truth is another and better
thing. The conditions under which
American art is making its way are favor
able to good portrait-painting, and if the
painters do not neglect to practice what
they preach, comparative indifference on
the part of public will quickly turn to
keen appreciation. We nave some ex
cellent painters of portraits already—and
their work is highly valued. With this
good beginning, with the progress that
must come from them and from those
who mean to paint with the same mo
tives they do, general recognition and
encouragement are sure to follow.—
Harper's.
PULLED DOWN TO DEATH.
All Because Ho Refused to Pin Up His
Long Coat Tniln.
You have perhaps journeyed between
New Orleans and Mobile, and remember
the vast, expanse of marsh with water
ways cutting through it. In the midst of
this desolation is a club-house and a rail
way station called English Lookout. It
is still good fishing and shooting ground,
but the alligator has become so scarce that
the sight of one is a novelty. Ten or
twelve years ago they crawled across the
railroad tracks, and passengers had but
to look out of the windows to see them
swimming.
One day, during my week's stay at tbe
ebib. several hcv.its were eoinir ont- and
one of them was occupied by a French
army officer, who was also a guest, says
a writer in the Detroit Free Press. He
had on a frock coat, and when seated in
tho stern of the skiff the tails almost
touched the water.
"Better take off that coat or pin the tails
up," said one of the punters, as his atten
tion was directed.
"Why?"
"Because an alligator may pull you
overboard."
The Frenchman laughed and shrugged
hi* shoulder and led the way down chan
nel. Four boats of us anchored about 100
feet apart, and the craft I was in was next
to the officer's. The fish were biting hot
and heavy, and for an hour uo one paid
any attention to anybody else. I tangled
my line in pulling in a lish, and while
working at the knots happened to glance
toward the Frenchman. Just as I did so
I saw the still waters broken before him,
caught sight of a black object thrust above
the surface, and next instant, uttering a
scream which was heard half a mile away,
the man was pulled out of the boat and
under water.
We hurried to tho spot, but nothing
whatever marked the sight of the tragedy.
Even his hat had gone down with him.
We rowed up and down and beat the
banks, but it was useless.
"Told him so," said the punter as we
gave up the search. "Them foreigners
don't seem to know nothing about 'gators.
Wo had a Prussian hero last months, and
what did he do but hang his legs in the
water, and he was pulled off tho boat with
me only four feet away."
One Pound of Tea.
A man who argues that one pound of
tea makes 400 small or 300 ordinary cups
states his case as follows: Tea testers
ordinarily use a silver five-cent pioce for
weighting the exact quantity required for
a cup. ;As thero; are about twenty-five
five-cent pieces to an ounce, and as thero
are sixteen ounces to a pound, it follows
that ono pound of tea will actually mako
400 cups, according to the standard of
strength ordinarily required by profes
sional testers. The cups used for this
purpose contain, however, one-fourth less
than the average domestic teacups. It
will, therefore, be seen that after making
due allowance for the difference in the
size of tho cups the number will be very
close to 300.
Hln England's Australian properties the
sale of opium to the aborigines and Ka
nakas is very large, and the drug is even
given in wages. The Presbyterian Gen
eral Assembly has asked the Government
to stop it.
£Ual UE»tatc, ©tc„
HOWTOM4KEADOLUR
Go a Long Way.
Purchase a farm, raise all your own
produce, trade It for grroeeries and
■what you need. In a few years, If you
are industrious, you will have a valu
able farm and bo independent, while
the clerk will be trudging alone: in the
same easy manner, barely making a
living lor his family.
EdwinK. Alsip & Co.,
THF OLDFST AND LFADINQ
Real Estate Agents
OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA,
NO. 1015 FOURTH STREET, SACRAMENTO.
Houses Rented, Money to Loan,
Insurance Placed, Cata
loues Issued Monthly.
We offer an opportunity to purchase a
farm for a small payment, and on terms
that yoa can pay for it out of the earnings.
For $500 cash—A tract of 37 acres, seven
miles southeast of Sacramento; deferred
payments in annual installments of £250,
with seven par cent, interest. Full price or
land, §45 per acre. No improvements.
For $2,7so—Five acres adjoining Oak Park,
ten minutes' walk from terminus of electric
railway; has u small house and barn, 'X\4
acres in alfalfa, a aeres in fruit trees; will
sell for tSOO cash payment, balance on easy
terms. This is a nice place for anyone wish
ing a home near tiie city.
*S- A wise man profits by experience.
So does the man who selects a good farm
in preference to working for wages.
For $4,6oo—Eighty acres near Loomis, in Pla
cer county; hius several acres in vineyard;
can all bo irrigated. Terms—sl,ooo cash,
balance in ten annual payments, with inter
est at seven per cent.
For $13,000—A splendid fruit ranch of 80
acres; 40 acres in choice fruit and table
grapes: small dwelling and barn; 3)4 miles
lrom the city, on Fruit Ridge. The cheapest
and best fruit farm in the vicinity of Sacra
mento.
A good ttnderstandlng is the foundation
of knowledge. A wise man is therefore
known by his selection. If yon are not
capable of so doing, call on
EDWIN K. ALSIP & CO.
They will put yon on the right "Tract.'* 1
W. P. COLEMAN,
Real Estate Salesroom, 325 J st
_/. O£A WILL BUY 160 ACRES TWO
o'±..'Dl." miles from Elk Grove. Good fruit
and grain land. fitis
tf Q 7nA -160 ACRES IN EL DORADO
00. • \J\) county, two miles from railroad
station; small vineyard and orchard; good
house and barn; 100 acres fenced. 653
Eighty Acres near Lincoln, I'lacer C.o. t
$35 per acre; good land. 627
Look at that elegant Residence, north
oast corner Seventeenth and G; full lot, well
improved, good barn; house has all modern
Improvements: street graded. All for $10,
-000, if sold within fifteen days.
MONEY TO LOAN.
P. BOIIL. E. A. CROUCH.
MILLS & HAWK,
Real Estate Dealers,
301 J street, Cor. Third, SacramoutD.
1 Q(\ ACRF RANCH FOR SALE. ONLY
101l live miles from Sacramento: all fenced;
oranges growing on the place; all the land till
able; eight-room dwelling, barns, etc.; wind
mills, tanks, etc.; a splendid place, and so
near the city that it is quite desirable; it is for
immediate sale; one-half can remain on mort
gage. COME AND BBS US.
Agency Union Insurance Company. '
-
H. S. CROCKER & CO.
2oS AND 2zo J STREEf.
The Leading Stationers.
PRINTERS AND LITHOGRAPHERS.
AGENTS FOR CALIGRAPH TYPE
WRITER AND SUPPLIES.
MANUFACTURERS OF BLANK BOOKS
nl7-tf .
A. LOTHHAMMER, 1021 NINTH ST,
TUNING AND REPAIRING IN ALL IT9
branches. Pianos and Organs a specialty,
but like attention giveu to all musical Instru
ments;
MISS WADSWORTH,
mEACHER OF DRAWING AND PAINT*
1 ing. Studio. No. 317 P Btreet. Orders fo*
Decorative Work solicit."-. Work ou exhi«
b't.lnn (.» .inn » »•—»• dirt