Puget Sound weekly Argus. [volume], April 29, 1880, Image 3

About Puget Sound weekly Argus. [volume] (Port Townsend, W.T. [Wash.]) 1876-1882

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
Vinnie Ream noxie's New Home.
Among the many handsome residences
erected here during the past year, one
belonging to Lieutenant Hoxie, District
Engineerdms attracted much admiration.
The house is built at the corner of K
and Seventeenth streets, one side over
looking Furl-mutt Square, an open tii
angle, upon \vhivh front many tine nnm- l
sions of resident swells. A rounded
tower lills the corner, and over a loweri
window, a bronze tablet announces thel
studio of Vinnie Ream Iloxie, artist.
When the bewitching little sculptor
married, society wondered whether she
would cast away her clay and break up
her molding sticks, or still cling to her
art. It was considered impossible for
her to fill the two rules of homekeeper
and modeler, but she has triumphantly
carried one with the other and merges
the two. Her marriage with Lieuten
ant Hoxie has proved a most happy and
harmonious union, and her last and
greatest work, the statue of Farragut,
has just gone from her hands. On
Wednesday afternoons the artist is
at home to her callers, and up stairs
and down stairs the little lady flies,
showing and explaining the mysteries
and trophies of her art. On Sunday
evenings Mr. and Mrs. Hoxie are at
home for their friends to come and chat
around their fireplace, and enjoy with
them the comforts and beauties of their
new house. In her parlors white statues
glow in the rosy twilight of her crimson 1
curtains. Sappho, calm and, pensive,
scroll and stylus in hand, stands in one
corner ; and “The West,” an emblem-‘
atic figure of a young girl, springs for
ward with the star of empire upon her
brow and the broken‘ arrows of her past
cast behind her. Two laughing baby
heads in marble stand on the high
oak chimney piece. The hands of Mrs.
Fremont and her daughter, one holding
a pen, the other a rose, are on the table;
and everywhere are scattered like treas
ures, queer conceits and curios. A
sketch by Dore, with a pretty little dod
ioation in his autograph, hangs on one
side; and a portrait of Mrs. Hoxie, by
-I{ealy, smiles from the opposite wall.
Queer brasses, bits of alabasta from
Pisa, inlaid woods of Sorrento, a carved
prie~dieu and silver lamps and censors
from some dismantled convent, a golden
harp that once belonged to an ancient
family of France, with chubby oherubs
kicking their heels at the top of the
elaborate post, all add to the attrac
tireness of these rooms. In the
studio below are all sorts of clayey
and half-formed images shrouded
in damp cloths. A bust: of Gen
end Custer attracts the most at
tention. It was begun the Winter he
tore the battle of the Rosebud, and
while the artist molded his features the
restless sitter took out his penknife and
whittled and cut the shoulder straps
That part has not been touched since.
and the marks of his knife blade are as,
fresh as they were four years ago. Mrs.
Custer has been so pleased with the
work, so much interested in it as it
grew, that Mrs. Hoxie intends present
ing it to her. A bronze cast will be
made from it for Mrs. Custer and one
for the artist. The statue of Farragut,
upon which she has been working these
four years, is now at the Washington
Navy Yard, where it has been cast by
gracious act of Congress, which appro
priated SIO,OOO for the statue; and the
artist, hurriedly signing the documents
as handed her, found afterward that she ‘
had to furnish pedestal as well as statue. ‘
The supply of condemned cannon hav-‘
ing been exhausted in these piping times
of peace, there was no way to equaliae‘
things. At present Farragut is at thew
foundry, his disjecta membra spread‘
from end to end of the building.
His head and also his trunk are
plunged face downward in French sand
and plaster to make the mold. His
arms are off by themselves, buried in
more sand and plaster. The rest of him ‘
visible consists of a right leg suspended
by a cable in mid-air, the left leg stand- ‘
ing by itself on its proper coil of ropes,
while his plaster coat tails lie on a bench,
and his spyglass is on a high shelf. The
statue will be cast in seven pieces, joined
together, given a final bath of cleansing ‘
acid, and then set up in Farragut square, l
where the artist can view her handiwork l
from the windows of her home. The}
amount of time and work that have been ‘
put upon it since the model left her‘
studio, finished, seems incredible. For
Works Mrs. chie was in daily attend
ance at the foundry as Farragut was
touched and carefully taken apart. Now
the parts are being set in the sand
molds, next they are taken out, pared
oil a quarter of an inch all around, set
In the molds again, held up in place by
time wires and the molten bronze poured I
In makes the cast an even thickness
throughout. By the middle or latter
part of April the cast will be'completcd
and turned over to the Secretary of the
Navy, who will then decide as to the
{llllO .of. .its unveiling, the artist’s re~
Won-““hmty ceasing from that time.—
Correspondenee S. F. Post.
Are tailors lam men? I
The Mohongo.
“'orkmen are now engaged in taking
the machinery out of the steamer Mo
hongo, which is lying alongside of ,
Broadway wharf. The engines have ‘
already been removed, and they are now i
at work breaking up and removing the ,
boilers, cylinders, llues, etc. The cabins, 1
decks, and in fact all the wood work,
will he removed, and the hull is oll‘cred
for sale. The hull, which is of iron, is
said to be perfectly sound, and could be
utilized as a sailing \essel, or, with suf
ficient expenditure, could be made to
serve as a hull for a screw steamer.
The Mohongo, like most sca going ves
sels that have seen their best days, has
had quite an eventful history. She was
built by the Navy Department. at New
York, in 1864, and belonged to the class
known as “double enders,” which proved
very serviceable during the war in nav
igating the rivers of the Southern
States. These vessels were of light
draft, and from the peculiarity of their
construction, were able to go backward
or ahead with equal facility, being .built
sharp at both ends and provided with .a
rudder at bow and stern—similar, in
fact, to the steam ferry boat of to-day.
Soon after the close of the war most of
these vessels were sold, and many of
them became attached to the merchant
marine. The Georgia, lost on her voy
age from Panama to this port in Octo
ber, 1878, and the South Carolina and
Wilmington, now in the servxce of the
Pacific Mail Company, were double end.
ers like the Mohongo, but were altered
to screw steamers, and the two former
were lengthened by W. P. Clyde when
bought by him. In 1870, steamship
business was quite lively on the Pacific
Coast, and steamers were in demand.
The United States Government was oc
casionallyr selling vessels as they had
been doing since the close of the war.
The Mohongo was then lying at Mare
Island. She was in fair condition, and
in those days a United States vessel did
not have to be in very poor condition to
be condemned and afterwards sold.
The manner in which she passed into
private hands forms the foundation for
a very interesting story, which runs
about as follows: William B. Carr,
and one or two others in this city,
thought if she could be bought cheap
she might be utilized. He accord
ingly employed an agent to go on to
\‘Vashington and interview the Sec
retary of the Navy upon the
subject. Mr. Carr‘s agent took
the train for \Vashington, but before he
had got across the Sierras, he found in
;a fellow-passenger, an agent for Ben
‘llolladay, who at the time owned a
‘ coast line of steamships running on the
coast between San Francisco and Ore
' gon, who was on his way to Washing
ton on the same errand, vis: to buy the
lMohongo. With a degree of shrewd
l ness which would have done credit to
, his principal, Mr. Carr’s agent kept his
1 business to himself, and set about how
lto circumvent his rival. The latter had
is. weakness .or two, which his fellow
traveler was not slow to discover, and
before they had reached N ew York, he
understood him thoroughly. Twenty
four hours spent amid the alluring in
fluences of the metropolis had so de
moralized the Holladay man that Carr's
agent found no trouble in getting on to
Washington without him, and before
the latter had reached the capital, he
had closed a bargain with the Secretary
of the Navy. It was understood that
Carr paid in the neighborhood of $20.-
000 for the Mohongo. He immediately
put her into the hands of the Risdon
Iron Works for repairs and alterations.
The engines were overhauled, new
boilers put in, her aides built up and an
upper deck added, deck cabins put on,
and her interior entirely rearranged for
service as a passenger steamer. About
$70,000 were expended in making these
alterations. She was sold toWilliam
H. Webb in January, 1872. It was
understood that Carr and partners made
between 835,000 and $40,000 by the
transaction. In March of that year she
cleared from this port for Honolulu
with the Australian mails. Two days
out of this port she cracked her
steam chest, and returned on the 3d
of April in distress. After being
repaired she again put to sea, and
was kept in the Honolulu line until
the following Spring, when she was
sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company, and after making one trip to
Panama under command _of Captain .
Connolly, she was placed in the line be
tween San Francisco and San Diego.
In ISTC) the Pacific Mail t'ompanv re-l
linquished their Southern coast i‘outei
and sold the steamers engaged in that
trade, including the Mohongo, to Good
all, Nclson & Perkins. The Mohongo
ran in the Coast line up to some time l
last Summer, when she was hauled oil'l
and laid up in Oakland crock. A few
weeks ago an examination of her ma
chinery showed that it was in a hopeless
state of decay. It was accordingly de
cided to take it out and offer the hull
for sale. If the Pacific Coast Steam
ship Company does not find a purchaser
for the 11u11,it is their intention to break
it up and dispose of it as old iron.—
S. F. Call. A A
Sa-ci Sequel of a Joke.
Who would think of unearthing nl
thread of romance in a. scrap-bag! And‘
yet a. few days ngo :1 busy houscwrlc,
putting together one of those. treasured
mosuics yclcpt a. “quilt,” overturned a
shred of silk whereby hung,r a tnle of no
ordinary interest. it was a. scrap of
satin, of ' the finest quality. once white,
but now yellow and time-stained. Here
is its history:
About twenty years ago St. Paul‘s
Church in Louisville rejoiced in the
possession of a. pastor who was the idol
of his congregation. During his minis~
trations he lost his wife, and conse—
quently became an interesting widower.
Among his most devoted admirers,
though personally unknown to him, was
a. maiden lady of uncertain age, many
peculiarities and independent circum
stances. The fact of her intense ad
miration for a. man to whom she had
never spoken became known to many,
and a party of young people laid plans
for what proved to be a heartless hoax.
A letter was addressed to the lady pur
porting to come from the reverend gen
}tleman, containing professions of ad
miration and esteem, asking for a. cor
respondence, and requesting profound
secrecy. The victim fell into the trap
l at once, and the correspondence thus be
‘ gun, continued until the pastor accepted
is call to a church in Savennh, when it
culminated in a proposal of marriage.
This, of course, was readily accepted,
and the final letter, announcing his ap
proaching departure and still enjoining
secrecy, from unavoidable circumstances,
also declared his probable return at any
moment to claim his bride.
Never did a happy hearted girl set
about the task of preparation with more
delight than this trusting deceived
woman. The greater part of her com:
petency was expended in the purchase
of bridal luxuries, a complete and elabcy
rate outfit, from the heavy satin and
costly lace of the wedding garment
down through every item of elegant and
dainty apparel. In the meantime, the
minister, soon after entering upon his
charge in Savanah, died in that city of
yellow fever, and the authors of the
cruel jest, satisfied with its success,
dropped the matter. But nothing
could shake the confidence of the expec
tant bride; her friends tried to mason
her out of her infatuation ; members of
the church visited her and endeavored
to prove how impossible it was her
hopes could be fulfilled. She triumph
antly showed her letters, and refused to
credit her lover’s death or anything
other than the belief that he might or
rive at any moment to claim her. As
time passed she lost her friends, and
her property dwindled to a mere pit~
tance. She was thrown among strang
ers, but wherever she went she carried
her trossesu, taking it occasionally from
the trunks to air it, and packing it up
again with jealous care.
At last her mental and physical in
firmities became more pronounced, She
kept her room and'admitted no one but
her landlady. On her death bed she re
quested this attendant to inform her
lover of her death, and to robe her for
burial in the bridal death. When it
was taken from the trunks it was found
that these trappings were too ghastly
for the corpse of a white haired woman,
and they gradually found their way,
piece by piece, into other hands—Let
ter to Savanah News.
The Birth of a King.
King Alfonso made his first appear
ance in public at 3:45 A. M. on the
28th of November, 1858, en a gold
platter and without any trappings of
purple and fine linenr Such, at least,
was the testimony furnished to the Czar
by Prince Michael Galitzyn, the Russian
Ambassador at the Court of Queen
Isabella. His Excellency wrote as fol
lows: “On the 28th of November,
1858, I was awakened suddenly in the
morning at 3 o’clock by a royal halber
dier, who brought me an invitation to
betake myself without delay to the‘
royal palace, in order to be present at,
the delivery of Her Majesty the Queen. l
\Vithiu half an hour I entered Her
Majesty’s private cabinet, where I found
numerous grandees and ministers al
ready assembled. A few minutes later
the doors of the cabinet were thrown
open, and the King,r consort, Donl
Francisque d’Assisi, entered the room,
bearing upon a golden salver the new
born infant, Don Alfonso, stark naked.
Thus all present were enabled to aseure
themselves that an heir to the throne
had really come into the won-l:.l."—Paris
Figaro.
Polly : Well, Pat, what is it now?
Would ye rather look a bigger fool than
ye are, on be a bigger fool than you lookl
Pat : Sure, now, my darlint, .I’ll be
both till I find which side of the urgi
mint yer on yerself, whin, by jabbers,
I’ll ioin ye, right or wrong‘ .
OLI’ DIPIA ADVERTISE‘MF‘NTS.
N. S. PORTER,
AT'l‘O 11mm“ .\’L‘—LAW,
Olympia, \V. T. ‘
H. G. STRUVE,
ATTORNEY~AT~LAW,"
Olympia, \V. T.
OLYMPIC HOTEL,
J. G. SPARKS, : PROPRIETOR,
Olympia, W. T.
SE .IX’IVI‘ 1419 :\ DVER’I‘IS 133)]. EN '.ITS.
NEW ENGLAND HOTEL,
SEATTLE, W. 'l‘.
I. c. “Ammo-s, : x s = rnol'nlmon.
Free Coach warm—irom the House.
In. McNAuom. Jon. FMoNAvom.
McNaught Brothers,
ATTORNEYsuAT-LAW,
Seattle, W. T.
I ‘
Geo. W. Harris, ~
(Successor to J. F. Morrill.) ‘
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL
~——-DEALERB m
DRU'GS AND MEDICINES!
m 310']? I
Complete Stock
North of Sn: m
03m
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SIGN-:CITY DRUG STORE,
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HARDWARE! , "AGENTS ' A ‘.
House and Ship Carpenterl' T 0619 ' “"0“ Till- I
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Groceries, Taylor's Sfilky Rake, :- 4 .
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IGHICUITUHM IMPIEMENTS Of All KINDS AT THE ,IflWESI PRICE I
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Broom Factory,
Takes pleasure in announc
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L pared to fill orders for
All STYLES of BROOMS
--ov A——
GOOD QUALITY AND
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Sand for prices. Address all orders to
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7 Olympia, W. T.
T—m_"_‘__.m:
{Sc hwahacher
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Seattle, : : : W. 'l‘.
IMMENSE
Spring Stock. 1
FROM THE EAST. '
nnv nouns. ’
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Will make allowance on all cub sales in.
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ECome Early and Oftell-g..
I SECU;;:3.I;(;XI§S.