Newspaper Page Text
Uncle Sam's New Legation There a Stronghold. PREPARING FOR THE WORST Five Buildings Surrounded by Wall Nearly Finished. AMERICAN GUARDS HANDY Queer Difficulties Encountered in the Construction of the Official Build ings?The New Minister. H?lWi. hj John Elfreth Watkios.) K.ir siime week* our State, War ar.d Navy Department's have been preparing fur the worst at Peking, and our minister, Mr. Roekhlll, in the event of a second boxer uprising, would lind himself in a far leas predicament than that which con fronted his predecessor. Minister Conger, Ir. liiOO. When ht goes to bed at night his head rests comparatively easy, for he knows that in the various barracks of De lation street there now are several thou sand American and European guards; that upon the sea, not far off, there Is a squad ron of Yankee warships; that within close call there are as many extra American troops as he might need for the protection of his little colony, and that he and his subordinates are now quartered In mou ern, fireproof buildings, surrounded by walls that are veritable fortifications. Maze of Peking. That your mind's eye may first be di- ! rected to the spot where our new legation stands, consider that maze called Peking us two cities built one against the other siid whose plan is a square resting upon an oblong. The latter, known as the Chi nese city, and which contains approximate ly 400,000 souls, lies to tin south of the euuare section or Tartar city, of 000,004) population. This Tartar city is really three cities, bu:lt one witnln the other, the outer- ! most, or Tartar city proper, containing dwelling houses and shops. Inside of thi3 la the yellow or Imperial city, occupied by the government offices and private resi liences of officials, and within the latter Is the purple or forbidden city, containing the royal palaces. The oblong Chinese city to the south Is surrounded by a wall i!o feet j high by '.15 feet thick, and the square Tartar city to the north la protected by a stronger ratification, 60 feet h.gh and 40 feet wide, | while the Imperial city Is separated from the Tartar and the innermost or forbidden city j from the imperial, each by its own walls. Now, to reach our legation, the traveler i liters the oblong Chinese city through a deep arch in the southern side of the BOlid wall, and after parsing northward through two miies of street reaches the more sub stantial wall of the Tartar city, which he inters through the great arch of the main ?:ate. Once within the Tartar city he coma almi st Immediately upon Legation stree:, running parallel with the wall for about a mile. All of the foreign legation compounds i : e upon this thoroughfare, which was a ?uraggling, unp-ived. broad gutter until a ft vv >. ars ago when it was at last cleansed, leveled and macadamized. Thus It will be seen that our minister lives Just Inside the square Tartar city, between its south wail nnd the south wail of the Imperial city, through the gate of which latter he must pass In order to reach that of the forbidden city, when he wtshe-s to call upon the em pi ror. To lie more exact, his walled in closure Is upon the south side of Legation street, la near the main gate and directly Hilji?:ns the Dutch legation. Across the street are the ftu^slan legation and the French Hospital. The southern boundary of the compound Is the great Tartar city wall, whose occupation?at least wherever touch ing the legation compounds?was considered by ihi' military commission of the powers. In lHoi. to be necessary for the defense of the diplomatic quarter. Our New Compound. The new American legation Is surrounded on the north, east and west by Its own wall, a new fortification of atone, twelve fe.'t In height. Inside of this stand?now i i.rly completed? five buildings constructed of the gray native brick and faced with stone The more Imposing of these edifices hi- the official residences of the minister, first secretary and second secretary, which tin- accompanying photographs will depict to the reader much more satisfactorily than H paragraph of penned description. These pictures, by the way. are the first views of the buildings to reach this country and have never been previously reproduced lu any publication. Not even the State Depart ment has received copies. The two remain ing buildings? the office of legation and quarters for the Chinese secretaries and student Interpreters?are of similar design, but less pretentious. For the entire Im provement Congress appropriated 9100,000, which has been economically expended by Mr Sid H. Nealy, an architect assigned to the work by the Treasury Department. Building Under Queer Difficulties. The erection of a legation building more than one story high was a distinct violation of the ancient tradition of the Chinese that heaven must resent elevation In houses other than those of the gods tllemselvea or of the emperor, the son of heaven. This rule was first broken, however, by the Aus trian*. who commenced their new legation Several years ago. and more recently the que-tion of h.gh houses lias been officially settled by the erection of a two-storied res idence for Prince 3u and three large blocks of similar build:ngs for the government college of languages. After Mr Ne^iy arrived In Peking with the commission to build our new legation h- encountered difficulties from the start. I here whs absolutely no American or Euro pean lalior to be found and he had to resort to the native workmen 11c soon discovered that these artisans had definite rules for doing things and these were not only quite archaic, but not to be Improved upon through either education or persu ision For example, as the walls progressed, the ma Sons would not have their materials brought up to tliem by ladders, but by long. I bridge-like inclinc-s, or "ramps," suiting gradually up from the surrounding: soil. The native bricks all came out of the Kilns twisted and distorted, the masons having to square each one by chisel before laying !t Moreover, the Chinese stonecutters, who excelled In their final results, laboriously carved a model of each ornament out of wood before executing it in stone. The coolies carried the heavy stones In great slings suspended from poles placed across tl eir shoulders. Cut to offset these delays, labor was cheap, carpenters demanding but 20 and bricklayers but IS cents (gold) per day. Legation Guards and Barracks. All of the other foreign legations at Peking have undergone similar improve ments, and the system of fortifications about the entire diplomatic quarter has been completed. The defensive walls are surrounded by deep moats and extensive barracks connecting with each country's compound quarter the legation guards, which, until the present apprehension ap peared, consisted of about seventy officers and 1,990 men, the German guard of ?ll men being the most numerous. "Until last September we had detailed about 150 sol diers of the regular army to serve as lega tion guards, but these were replaced by marines, who. at present writing, number three officers and ninety-seven men, the of ficers being Capt. Harry Lee, First Lieut. Thomas Huleomb, jr., and Second Lieut. Edward P. Larned. In case of an uprising the senior military officer, non-Chinese, on duty in Peking, would be in command of the entire guard, according to the plan of the mixed military commission of 1901, which also advised that not less than a three months' supply of provisions and a generous reserve of arms and ammunition should always be kept on hand by each country for the use of its legation guards. The total number of guns advised by the commission was about twenty-five how itzers and thirty machine guns. As soon as the extension and improve ment of the diplomatic quarter was decided upon, after the Boxer uprising, all Chl 1 nese building* were removed from the space meted otit. The quarter now presents the appearance of a modern American or Eu 1 ropean settlement of about one-half square mile extent. In or bordering upon it are three good hotels, a Y. M. C. A. building I and Catholic church for the legation guards and two hospitals, receiving both Chinese I and European patients. Not only Legation I street, but many otfter thoroughfares have been macadamized and an electric light | company has recently been organized to | relievo the night of its darkness and dan gers. Old Legation Difficulties. Our old legation. Just vacated, was a se ries of one-story bungalow-like buildings rented by Minister Conger from our former minister, Col. Denby, who purchased it from the estate of S. W. Williams, a for mer secretary of legation. It is situated in an inclosure of some one and a half acres surrounded by a high wall. But so intense was the heat in these low-cellinged houses that Mr. Conger, at his personal expense, had to rent each summer an ancient tem ple, about a dozen miles back in the hills, presided over by an old priest so puckered and wrinkled that he might have been mis taken for a relic of the days of Buddha. At the time of his recent promotion to the rank of rtmbassador and his transfer to Mexico Mr. Conger was the most Influential foreigner in all Peking He was dean of the diplomatic corps, the confidante of the empress dowager and the adviser of the foreign office, which trusted him implicitly, knowing 'hat it was the policy of our gov ernment to maintain the political entity of China. Mrs. Conger was the first for eigner to gain the friendship of the dow ager empress, with whom she often visited for hours at a time. It was even whispered about that Mrs. Conger had converted the little ol.l lady to Christian science. Lur ing his official residence in Peking Mr. Con ger had the gratification of seeing the diplo matic corps over which he presided re ceived for the first time as representatives of sovereigns equal in rank to the Chinese emperor, ami Mrs. Conger had the satisfac tion of having entertained at one time eleven princesses and several ladles of the court, which was rot only a social triumph, but an unprecedented departure from the excluslveness of the palace circles. When the Congers departed from Peking the em peror decorated the minister with the first , grade of the third class of the Order of the Double Dragon?which Congress will prob ably not allow him to accept?and Mrs. Con ger was the recipient of several imperial gifts, for which she "need not aocount to i any home officials New Minister Trained Diplomat. William Woodville Rockhlll, our present minis r. also the right man in the right S place. He Is a Philadelphlan. fifty-two j years old, who when a young man of thirty entered our oriental servfee as sec ond secretary to Peking. He was promoted to secretary of legation a year later, and the following year, '8B-S7, was our charge d'affaires in Korea. After that he made two Journeys of exploration In the un known regions of China. Mongolia and Tibet, then returned to become chief clerk of the State Department, and then suc cessively third and first assistant secre tary of state. From the latter office he was promoted to that of minister to Greece, Koumania and Servla. nert becoming our commissioner to China for the settlement of the disputes growing out of the Boxer troubles. He was our plenipotentiary ?t the congress of Peking, where he signed the final protocol which wound the matter up. Previous to his present mission he was director of the bureau of American republics. He is an accomplished Chi nese scholar, and having virtually grown up in diplomacy, Ls Just the sort of strenu ous man to handle another Boxer difficul ty Mrs. Rockhlll. who was Miss Edith H. Perkins of I,itchfleld. Conn., before she married the minister six years ago, la with him tu Peking. Minister Rockhlll's staff is headed by John Gardner CooHdge. first secretary, fc son of Thomas Jeffersoa CooildgS, tb* wealthy East India merchant of Boston and former president of the A. T. 4 8. F. R. R., who wag minister to France under Harri son and later member of the Joint high commission. Besides William Phillips, also of Massachusetts, the second secretary, there are at the legation two CMnese sec retaries and two student interpreters. Lieut. Frank Marble. U. S. N'.. is now accredited to fhe legation as naval attache and Capt. Henry I.eonard of the Marine Corps, as military attache. Capt. Leonard will bo remembered as one of tha heroes of the siege of Peking during the Boxer troubles. JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS. ART NOTES. An exhibition of seventy-eight oil paint ings, water colors and etchings by Everett Ij. Warner opened Tuesday in the Veerhoff galleries. It comprises the most compre hensive collection of Mr. Warner's work that has ever been shown in this city, and it has already aroused much Interest. The paintings are almost without exception small and pictorial. They are" not, however, diminutive or superficial. Some have been Included In the catalogue of the Paris Salon, but none are what Is commonly un derstood as exhibition pictures produced primarily for the purpose of making a brave show. Indeed, their reticence is their chief characteristic. They are quiet, modest and unassuming. There la no splurge of technique, no drama of theme, but instead, straightforward, legitimate brush work and simple, unpretentious sub jects. All are not equally good, none, per ha.ps, is notably strong, but each has been thoughtfully rendered and the majority have found extremely artistic expression. Mr. Warner understands better than many the meaning of the word pictorial, and uses discrimination in the selection of his themes. Every subject will not make a picture, 110 matter how clearly it be set forth in paint, nor is mere homeliness to be mistaken for strength. The true artist Is one who discovers real beauty and then In telligently points it out to others. Ho first charms, then strengthens and inspires A great work of art is one which products not alone ecstasy, but dignity of emotion. While Mr. Warner's work cannot yet be called great, it is essentially worthy and has been conceived and executed with apparent pure motive. His architectural compost tlohs interpret latent beauty and his out door themes set forth nature's subtlest charm "A Venetian Doorway," which. In cidentally, found three would-be purchasers on the opening day of the exhibition, >s an excellent example. In the maU?- of archi tectural detail it is not peculiarly attractive, but the fainter has proclaimed the value of its simple lines and the charm of Us low toned color. He has painted the old worn brick walls with extreme cleverness, and he has rendered each-detail with faithful ac curacy, and yet he has produced an emo tional piece of work rather than a photo graphic transcription. His "Notre Dame l.ate Afternoon" and his "Campanile of the Palazza Publico, Siena," are not as success ful, lacking in atmosphere and requiring better valance in values, but his "Notre Dame" (No. 2) and his "Italian Quarter, | New York," both rise again to a higher I plane. One of the most notable canvases I in the exhibition is "The Pont St. Michel Late Evening," a noct'urne vigorously Inter preted and admirable In effect; and one of the most pleasing Is "The Palais de Jus tice, Paris," which conserves to Itself the sentiment and spirit of a peculiar place. A city is like an individual, it possesses mark ed characteristics, and nowhere are these to be found more patent than in Us streets; and yet few artists seem to have recognize! or taken advantage of this fact. Possibly on account Qf Its attendant difficulties. Mr. Warner has, however, an excellent little view of "F Street on a Rainy Day," an at tractive "Glimpse of Upper Broadway" and a picture of the busy section of "New Tork In February." Turning to his outdoor themes, one must speak with some enthu siasm of his "Winter in New Hampshire," which was recently shown in New York In the National Academy of Design's exhibi tion; of his "Salt Bark," which, while pos sibly a trifle overpalnted, is specially con servative and pictorial; of his "Brook," a crisp, convincing bit of brushwork, and of his little "Birches." "Rowley Meadows" und "An Unfrequented Road," as well as a score of others. Among the water colors one entitled "Phlox." which shows an old fashioned New England home and garden, is specially worthy of mention, while a "Provlncetown Hillside." "Amsterdam" and "Hotel de Guise" also merit distinction. The etchings are less accomplished than the paintings, but not unworthy. They were chiefly experiments, but they show capability and artistic feeling. With but two exceptions they have been included In the salons of '03, '04 and '06, and they com pare most favorably with the mass of mod ern work. The exhibition will continue un til the 10th of this month. * * * The permanent collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art has been enriched this week by a painting by Henry Moser, presented by Mr. V. G. Fischer. It is a genre of a type not commonly seen today. A family, probably of early New England settlers, Is pictured, assembled at Its midday meal. The grandfather stands at the head of the table saying grace, while the others bow their heads In reverent devotion. The sur roundings are homely but not unlnvRlng; the room Is plain but homelike. The story It tells Is of simple home life and honest devotion, and these never grow old or fail to And appreciation. Hysterical sentiment belittles Itself as well as those who give It expression, hut genuine feeling dignifies and Is unattended by reproach. And withal this canvas Is well painted. Its color scheme is good. Its figures well drawn and modeled. It Is not painty nor oversmooth, but shows careful brushwork and efficient finish. The old man's head is especially well rendered and the figure of his wife peculiarly ex pressive. The whole group Is well composed and nicely placed. The room has genuine dimensions and has been made a part of the picture, rather than, aa to more com mon, a mere background. It to a picture which will appeal strongly to the general ' publla and still will find respectful advo Ill THE ERIE BASIN Where the Canal Boatmeo Spend the Winter. THEY LIKE THE METROPOLIS Because Their Children May Attend Good Schools. CHANCE FOR SOCIAL LIFE Scenes Witnessed on the Acres of Boats Tied Up on the Water Front of South Brooklyn, Written for Tb? BtaP. The colony of canal ers In the Erie basin was much smaller early this winter than It would have been had the average level of the theremometer been lower by a few degrees, but still between 300 and 350 boats were tied up there before February 1, be sides fifty or 100 tied up elsewhere in the harbor. Since then more boats have tied up and several hundreds of men, women and children?perhaps more than a thou sand?are passing the closed season in New Tork as usual. Where is the Erie basin? Away down In South Brooklyn. It forms a part of tbe railroad was spiked flown some seventy years ago. At all events, the relative Importance of canallng as a.business began to go flown from that time, and today the best friends of canal transportation in the United States shake their heads and admit that the railroads have practically won the fight. ? It isn't altogether so in Canada, where the canals are still prosperous; it isn't so in some European countries?France, tor in stance, where the canals are still a most im portant factor. They have already begun to spend more than a hundred million dollars In the state of New York to widen and deep en the old Erie canal so as to put it in con dition to compete, but there are really very few who feel certain that the barg? canal of the future will be a much larger factor In the transportation problem than thecanai of the present has for the last few years. With the Boatmen in Erie Basin. * * That is the opinion of most of the boat men wintering in the Brie basin, though here and there an enthusiast among them may foe found who holds a much more roseate view. Some of them e'ven say that canallng un der present conditions Isn't half as bad, and are able to show wealth totaling up Into very respectable figures to prove that they are rigfot. They will tell you of Captain So-and-So who retired two or three years ago worth $50,000; of Captain This and-That, who owns six boats and makes each of them earn a good net dividend ev ery year on Its original cost of $2,000 to $2,500, besides supporting the owner and his family. They will tell you that much of the decay of canallng as a business has come from fright and sheer lack of nerve. "It's this way." said one of them to the writer, recently: "There have been bud years as well as good years on the canal same as In everything else, but we've averaged as well as the folk In most busi nesses requiring no more capital than we do. Ail the same, though, we canalers have been scared out of our boots by the railroads for a good many years, and mighty few of us have had the nerve, when a boat has worn out, to replace it with a new one. I have six boats, two of them nearly new, but thousands of canalers have year* with giMd f?rf- They are wearing out now at t?e rate of fifty or sixty a year and only about twenty-five a year are be ing built. You can easily flgure out how long canaling would la?t on the eld Erie at that rate. No. I'm not havlrsg any boats built this year; I'm soared myself, now; I don't know what's going to happen when the widening and deepening of the canal is completed- I believe there'll be a revival of canal business then, but It won't be possible for the small mule or horse-towed boats we have now to com pete successfully with the big new steim tawed craft that will go into the business then. "Whether you can make money on the canal or not *\ependa on whether you're a hustler or not. If you are you'll mak*.* a living and liy up money; If you ain't you won't. And 1 must admit that ca naling is somewhat deadening to the hust ler. It makes some folks lazy, and that's a fact. ? Why Canalers Lay Up In New York. "You might think from the big fleet of boats laid up here In 'the basin' that prac tically all the canalers in the business win ter In New York. "That isn't so; some boats are laid up at Buffalo this winter, some In Rochester, Syracuse and other cities, and some all along the line in the villages. But a good deal more than half the boats are here? more than usual. In fact. "Most boatmen like to lay up here, for two or three reasons. For one thing, if they are here they can always get a load north and west to take out when he canal opens, and make their boats begin to earn money at one?. If the winter has been spent elsewhere the first trip of the season is generally light, and no money comes in till the boat has been brought here and loaded, for there Isn't much to bring east and south In the spring. "By laying up here In the winter you have a chance to bring down a load at the very end of the season. If it's a load of potatoes you may be asked to let them stay aboard thirty or sixty or ninety days, and then your boat will be earning storage money. "Or if you discharge your boat as soon as you get here you may have a chance to use your boat as a lighter, and then you'll be earning money a good part of the win ter. This last fall was warm, and that al lowed many more to make New York this year than common. The first part of thi? winter was open, there has been little Ice in the harbor, and that has made more de mand for the boats as lighters. That's why there weren't more tied up in the basin before the first of February. "There are two other good reasons why water front of the borough of Brooklyn, one of tho five divisions of Greater .New York. Even with only three hundred odd boats wintering there "the basin" is a most interesting sight, especfaUy on Mon days. For with the caroaiers, who are mostly country born, Monday being the general wash day, brings out a remarkable clothesline display. It wouldn't be easy to find any other place where the wash of near a thousand people can be seen flapping in the breeze so regularly once a week as there. But perhaps you don't know much about the canalers and their boats. It would be surprising !f you did. The canalers are a class that is rapidly disappearing. Twenty years ago there must have been 25,000 or 35,000 of them all told in New York alone, for they had 4,000 boats on the Erie and Champlain canals, and each boat must have supported an average of six or seven persons, counting the captain, his family and the employes required to run the boat. Today, by a liberal estimate, that of the New York state superintendent of public works, who has charge of the state's artificial water ways, the number of boats Is not above 000, and there connot be many more than 4,000 canalerB In existence in the state of New York. Outside New York there are a few more?in New Jersey two canals are still in operation and a few boats are runr nlng on other canals in the country?possi bly 5,000 people In all the United States are still entitled to be called canalers. There was a time when they were a pros perous and Important element in the com munity, when they stood for transporta tion much the same as do the working rail road men of today, but that time is gone. Apparently the doom of the canalers, as a class, was sounded definitely when the first strap rail in the Albany and Schnectady cates among the painters?distinctly a gal lery picture and a very desirable acquisition. ? * * Mr. Albert H. Chaffee of "Worcester, Mass., held an exhibition of photographs and water colors at the Shoreham the early part of this week. The work displayed In-, eluded reproductions of many famous, old world paintings and views of important buildings In Italy, Sicily and Switzerland. It was data of peculiar value to art stu dents and on ihe educational side found its chief value. Mr. Chaffee is undoubtedly keenly interested in art and sincerely ap preciative, and he has brought both en thusiasm end skill to bear upon his work. His photographs are of an unusual order? not the ordinary guide book kind?and in terpret tho works of the master painters and builders with much truth and sym pathy. In 1809 he went abroad especially to photograph Rophael's "Hours," and through strong letters of introduction was accorded both in Rome and elsewhere un common privileges. In some instances In order to enhance their veracity Mr. Chaffee has colored his photographs, but the orig inal prints are so satisfactory that this ad ditional decoration cannot be counted as a gain. Mrs- Chaffee, who accompanied her husband and assisted him with his exhibi tion, Is a lecturer upon art. conducting classes In several of the schools and col leges in the New England cities which are within a short radius of her home. On Saturday afternoon she gave at the Shore ham an interpretation 'of a group of Raphael's paintings, and on Wednesday and Thursday evenings she addressed the Wednesday Club. For the benefit of her students and the public at large Mrs. Chaf fee has issued in pamphlet form a series ot six topic books giving outlines and refer ences for the study of the history of art. The one on the art of America Is specially Interesting, and while far from complete shows careful compilation and gives valua ble references to uncatalogued articles which have appeared during the past twenty-five years In American and English magazines. * * * A word might be said right here of the Wednesday Club, which Mr. and Mrs. Chaffee's visit has in a measure brought to light. It Ls an organisation boasting about twenty members and a sincere interest In art. For about a year it has been meeting on alternate Wednesday afternoons at the Library of Congress In a private room, placed at its disposal, as a special privi lege, by the librarian, In recognition of earnest and studious purpose. Architecture has been made the special subject of study tills winter, and free resort has been mad* AN OLD TIMER. AH given up the fight as soon as their boats became unfit to do business with. "A canal boat will last about twenty to the library's valuoble books and prints. The course of study is conducted by the members themselves, and each in turn as sumes the charge of a single meeting. The existence of such an organization is an encouraging symptom Indicative of an in creasing. intelligent interest in the signifi cance and welfare of art. * * * The use which is made of the art reading room at the Library of Congress is con stantly growing. A brief given period this year placed against the same time last year shows an increase of about six hundred in the number of readers. On Washington's birthday the records show fifty readers, and on last Sunday afternoon eighty-five. Many visitors from out of town have asked of late to see the great book of jades, and while attracted to It undoubtedly on account of its published value and rarity, have examined its pages carefully and carried away some thing more helpful than a memory of its weight, cost and dimensions. The exhibits recently put on view have also attracted more than common attention. The Sunday after the Noyes collection of Japanese prints, books, etc.. was made accessible to the public there was a record-breaking at tendance, and the Interest then displayed seems to have been continued. And so with the rare engravings, which seem to belong more truly to the scholastic side of art, and which would presumably make to the gen eral public less direct appeal. They are carefully examined by the casual visitor, and diligently sought out by students. This goes to show, in a measure, not only the place that the Library of Congress has taken in the community and the effective ness of the work undertaken by its print division, but also that the general public Is not altogether uninterested In art nor to tally unappreciatlve. * # * The first of a series of lectures, planned by the Washington Architectural Club and the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, for the purpose of interesting the general public in the subject of architecture, was given last Saturday evening at Hubbard Memorial Hall by Prof. A. li. F. Hamlin of Columbia University, New York. Architecture, he said, was the art of . building beautifully, and through it he traced the history of nations. Stereop tfeon pictures were used as illustrations, and after a few words of general introduc tion many fine photographs were passed In review. There were excellent examples of the Egyptaln, Assyrian, Greek and Roman buildings, and of the classic. Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles. The dis tinctions were simply pointed out, and the merits of each briefly Indicated. Few tech nical terms ware used, and yet much infer D 'HO TWO ^orti m we like to winter Jn New York. The schools are better here, and It's better here socially. I know that must sound odd matlon was given. Prof. Hamlin was him self Interested, and therefore interesting. He showed how the study of architecture opened even to the layman many pleasant avenues, and at how many points it came in touch with the lives of the people. He emphasized its relation to the other fine arts, and demonstrated its broadening influ ence. The next lecture in the course Is to be on the modern adaptation of the Gothic, and will be given by Ralph Adams Cram, the well-known authority. * * * The modern art student's indebtedness to photography was demonstrated afresh by ' an Illustrated lecture on the Chateau of Touraine, given last Monday evening by Uie Rev. William R. Turner. While not di rectly an art subject, the lantern slUles made from recent photographs had much artistic merit, and the many references to the architecture of the chateau were rel evant and instructive. * ? ? The regular Marclr "art talk" at the Cor coran School of Art will be given on Mon day afternoon at 4:15 by Mr. E. C. Messer. the director. The subject will be "Impres sionism," and Illustrations of lis various phases will be given by the lecturer. * * * The Southern Pines Tourist announces Miss Clara Sltz. formerly a pupil of the Corcoran School, the winner of a competi tion for a cover design for the "Blue and Gray Tourist." * * * The Society of Art Collectors, under whose auspices the "comparative exhi bition" was held In New York last winter. Is now proposing to get together and ex hibit in London next year & collection of 100 or 125 representative American paint ings. * * * During: March, It Is reported, the Glasgow pictures, which have awakened so much Interest In this country, and have been suc cessively shown In Buffalo. Chicago and St Louis, will be exhibited In the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia. Earlier In the season it was hoped that thay might be brought here, but now It seem* probable that they will get no nearer than the Quaker city. LEILA MECHLIN. Harmonious. From I'uck. The Caller?"Your art gallery Is a treat. This picture especially Is delightful; the values are so well balanced." Mr. Porkhatn?"That's right. Iwm 9200, plctur* hum yrkt>" and I was stuck with a load of potatoes wost of Albany. "A lot of us canalers go to church Sun days, of course; not everybody, but a fair proportion. Some of us drink too much, and break other moral laws, no doubt, but if the truth was known the proportion of toughs among us is no bigger than the average, and I'd gamble on it. Some of ua like to dance, and some years there's a club that gives one or two, sometimes three big balls. I am not Interested, and don't remember whether there are any big ca nalers' dance this winter or not. "I'm rather fond of canaling myself, or I don't suppose I'd be in it. There's plenty of hard work in it at times, when you're loading and unloading, for inetcm-e, but there's plenty of time to take it easy, too. I often make trips to Canada, through Caamplain, and th . my wife sometimes gels seasick; the waves on the Hudson river and the raging canal aren't very ter rible, but I've seen pretty rough water on Champlain, and, to tell you the 'ruth, I've been seasick there myself once or twice, and several times when the weather was bad I've been afraid the line between my boat and the steamer that was towlnr me would break and let us adrift, and then there'd have been real danger "Stories? Well, some of the old boat men can tell a few, maybe; I might myself occasionally, but nobody can think of good stories offhand, I gues*. Come down and spend an evening with us some time. We'll have some apples and cider and doughnuts and hickory nuts, and two or three friends will come in?we'll tlnd room for 'em?and maybe we can scare up a whole string of stories for you." James' Memories of Castle Garden. to you, but I Won't mind if >ou do laugh' you wouldn't r you knew more about c& - nallng "Most canalers have families Their wives and children live on tin, 1,0am with them, and of counn- the children hare to go \ Jhtrt' hundred* of canal children in the Brooklyn nebools every win ter. and aome of them take the prlaea too let me tell you. The canal . aptain> wlf?* the mother of his children, la .? g >.*1 aver ,n;i(Ldlrcle*" American woman, and she likes to have neighbors of her own Here ahe can have them every winter In any of the smaller ettles ahe might have half a dosen. maybe a dosen In the ein?I * Mages two or three, or none at all ind she mightn't get along with then! verj well. She naturally doesn't mix much with the women on shore; neither side Is agree able. of course. Here there are hundred* of women, and out of the hundr.-ds she can easily find a number of just tier s >rt I should say that life 1? lhe aame in principle among us canalers as it is imraa ojher folks. We naturally divide up into cliques and sets?s<k-Iu1 sets. I suppose v?>u would call them?.in the canal the sane a> y*>u folks do on shore My Wife has her special friemis amons the women lfvinc .>11 havtVhV'T be"'!! ,M" Wln,"r- 'hev ha\e their tea lights and other parties of one kind and another as regularly as any other women. - 7 Winter Life on the Boat*. \ ou wouldn t think tJiere'd he room on a canalboat for anything of the sort? 'Of course you wouldn't, for our living quarters are a great deal smaller and more crowded than yours, even If you do live In a little Harlem flat. Our big cabin ia only twelve feet square; It's our living room. Our kitchen Is Just big enough for a range and a bed room. Just a kind of recess, you know. But we get along all right. We have three children, so there are five of us. The two little girls sleep on a couch In the cabin; there's a regular steamer berth built Into the wall of the living room for the oldest girl, and then there's the bed room. Besides, there are two bunks In the forward part of the boat, used by the help In the busy season, and when our grown son comes home and staya all night ha sleeps In one of them. "He's a high school graduate; he's been to business college, too, and he has a Job as a bookkeeper In Jersey City. He's quite an athlete; used to go to the V. M, C. A. gymnasium regular, in Brooklyn, win ters, when he lived home, for ve've win tered here every year but one for a long time. That year the canal fross up early, From Harper's Magaxiiie. Was it not the bitterness of hlstorj-, that on that day of circumnavigation, that day of highest intensity of impression, th6 ancient rotunda of Castle Garden, viewed from Just opposite, should have lurked there as a \ague nonenlty? One had known it from far, far back and with the Indelibility of the childish vision?from the time when It was the commodious concert hall of New York, the tlrinament of long-extlnguisred stars: 111 spite of which extinction there out lives for me the image of the infant phe nomenon Adelina Putti, whom (another large-eyed Infant) 1 had been benevolently taken to hear. Adelina Pattl. in a fanilke little while frock and "pantalettes'" and a hussarllke red jacket, mounted on an arm chair. Its back supporting her, wheeled to m the front of the stage and warbling Ilka a tiny thrush even in the nest. Shabby, shrunken, barely discernible today, the an cient rotunda, adjusted to other uses, had afterward, for many decades, carried on a conspicuous life?and it was the present-re moteness, the repudiated barbarism of all this, foreshortened by one's own experience, that dropped the acid into the cup. The skyscrapers and the league-long bridges, present and to come, marked the point where the age?the age for which Castle Garden could have been, in its day, a "value"?had come out. That In Itself was nothing? ages do come out. as a matter of course, so far from where they have gone in. But it had done so, the latter half of the nineteenth century. In ones own more or less Immediate presence; the dif ference from pole to pole, was so vivid and concrete that no single s>hade of any one of Its aspects was lost. This impact of the whole condensed past at once produced a horrible, hateful sense of personal an tiquity. Few Australians in America. From tbe New York Sun. There are only a few Australians dis tributed throughout the t'nited States, and their number la so small that In moat of the official bulletins they come under the head of "unclassified " There are in New York city less than M) Australians, and the majority of these Vre such "In name only," having been born In Australia during the temporary reaidence of their parenta. One auch case la that of Mme. Melba, the prima donna, who was born in Melbourne, Australia. In lfcdfl, though her home ia in Engrland. The only city In the country In which there is any considerable number of Aus tralians Is San Francisco, In which there are about a thousand. Chicago has some 300, and Oakland, a suburb of San Fran cisco, 230. Once every year the Australians In New York city assemble for fraternal meeting, and it is found usually that the larger number of thos* prsswu ars travel ing Australians.