PHILIPPINE NATIVE WEAPONS.
A Museun of Curios at- Manila Col
lected by the Spanish.
There is located in Manila a place
that is the Mecca and delight of relic
hunters. Ifccintains everything con-
H shape of crude weapons
and is the one spot in the
■s of semi-civi>k,aGon, I
show genius in the
>n has been accumulat
wo centuries, and there
t not represented by the
arms typical of the tribe from which
they came. When a tribe was con
quered its munitions of war were
seized and brought to this junk-room
for safe keeping.
Perhaps the weapons universally
used throughout the archipelago are
the bolo and machete. There is a
big awkward machite that looks ugly
—a weapon that is largely utilized
among the natives not only for fight
ing but for cutting cane, etc. With it
or the bolo a native can cut r.afflelent
bamboo to build his caso cr perform
any kind of architectural feat. He is
handy with it, and ia a dangerous
enemy at close quarters. There is
possibly 50 different kinds of knives
included in the collection. Some are
more fancy than others and are in
cased in handsome leather sheaths.
Those were usually worn by officers
and are not so large or formidable as
the bolos that the rank and file car
ried.
Perhaps the most interesting collec
tion in the budding is the bamboo and
gaspipe canno. made in imitation of
the of the Europeans. It is
not likeijßhat they ever did much
damage to their oppressors with those
englr oß war, for they appear to be
capafb' o qf a o i ng more execution to
thos® operating them than to the
el j.ny.
kind made from one-
pipe, strongly se
in of wood in a crude
m^Bj lp ..Sotne were bound with
raaßp cords. It is not possible that
the inventor ever intended that there
should be any recoil, and consequently
it was difficult for them to secure gun
ners, as that honorable position in the
rebel artillery must have been very
dangerous and unpleasant.
There are some cannon made entire
ly of bamboo. The wood is bound to
gether by iron, in some instances,
and if this was not available, wooden
bands made out of bamboo or rattan
were used. The sizes of those can
nons run all the way from two to
six inches.
Then comes the lava cannon balls
used. They are made of the lava of
volcanoes, and when not available,
stones circular shape were
used. There are none of them that
would cause much commotion among
the tnemy, but they represent the
crude attempt of a people to combat
the modrn methods of their oppres
sors.
The stands and shelves are lined
with every kind of old-fashioned flint
lock used in eariy days by the Sani
ards, and afterward fell into the hands
of the natives. There are also many
imitations of those, among which is
that of the flint. Instead of using
flint, the improved gun of the natives
had a small piece of grioved bamboo.
By forcing a pointed stick made of
bamboo up and down this groove, like
the American Indians’ method with
pieces of fir, sparks will fly and com
municate to the pan where the prim
ing lays. The barrels of the guns
made by the natives were composed of
gaspipe, and the woodwork was very
crude.
The sabers and swords in the collec
tion are all well tempered, although
the most of them are poorly finished.
There are quite a number of old
Spanish swords which they came by
as they came by everything that is
useless.
The spears are all of the same make
and are possibly the most unique and
creditable that the islands produce.
They are highly finished, the wood
used being ebony. The iron prongs are
polished and have a very striking ap
pearance. The poles are about six
feet long and it is said that the war
riors could use those weapons very
dexterously.
The blow gun of the mountain
tribes finds a small place in the col
lection. There was a large collection
at one time, but the demand for them
was so great that they soon disap
peared.
There io also in the collection a
number of models that belonged to the
office of patients, that represent the
crud attempts of the natives to in
roduce labor-saving machines. There
is he model of a rice grinder that is
and it is said that the
maflr is now in use in some parts of
the iinand. The other models are im
provements on derricks, cane grinders
and a for working iron.
They are a4l somewhat unique and in
teresting as they represent attempts
made by aWe two cnturies behind
the times to better their condition.—
Mamia Freedom.
MILITARISM AND PUBLIC MORALS.
The degradation 'll character due to
militarism take.* many forms. There is
the vicious ethics Of war carried into
social and industrial life. The deceit
and fraud, more common in militant
There
Mb
H
m-
B
less so a*e iheir mercenary marriages.
Among the rank and file occur those
illegitimate unions common to every
garrison (own.- Among the toilers the
same evil prevails. Militarism acts di
rectly and indirectly to make tnem un
willing to assume the responsibilities
of marriage. How serious this evil
has become may be gathered from hhe
report of Dr. Hirsdherberg, of Berlin.
In that city alone in 1897, 8,000 victims
of these Arbeiter-Ehen, as they are
called, who had been deserted by their
companions, appealed foj public re
lief. In 1895 the number reached
12,000. But Berlin is not the only
capital thronging with these unfortu
nates. They crowd the dark corners
of the cities of all the militant coun
tries of Europe.—Scribner’s.
THE STREET'S OF PEKING.
A paper on the-fetreets of Peking is
contributed by Eliza R. Skidmore to
the Century, with pictures by Harry
Fenn and W. H. Drake from photo
graphk
Peking is the most incredible, impos
sible, anomalous, and surprising place
in the world; the most splendid, spec
tacular, picturesque, and interesting
city in China; a Central Asian city of
the far past; a fortified capital of the
thirteenth century handed down in
tact. Peking is the capital of all
China, yet what interests and piques
one most, gives Peking its own mdi
aqi 9JB ‘eaiduia jo senp aeq;o moaj
vidual character, and distinguishes it
things that are not Chinese, the con
trasts and the contradictions. Peking
is by rfist intention a permanent Tutar
encampment, a fortified garrison of
nomad bannermen surrounding Pat
ching, the northern palace of the con
quering khan of khans. The Tartar
ruler of four hundred millions of sub
ject Chinese is closely eurrounded by
his faithful Manchu clansmen from be
yond the Great Wall, who scorn and
hate and secretly fear the masses of
Chinese more than any outer enemy;
who have thrown themselves into the
arms of Russia through fear of the
Chinese; who have bargained that
Russia shall send soldiers to their aid
when needed; who have held back and
turned back the wheels of progress,
with a certain prescience that the new
order would relagate them to poverty
and extinction. Every Manchu is
borne on the rolls as a bannerman, and
receives his stipend, even if he never
bends a bow or hurls a stone in mili
tary drill. But the Manchu banner
men are no longer the fierce warriors
their ancestors w ere, nor their khan
even a hardy huntsman like the early
Manchu emperors.
There had been three cities there
before Kublai Khan did his “stately
pleasure—dome decree,” and
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled
round.
to make the splendid capital Marco
Polo first described. The plan, the
palaces, the walls, all date from Mon
gol times, the thirteenth century.
Then some quaint military custome of
the middle ages are ouserved. The
soldiers are drilled in archeiy and
quoits, and the nine city gat* are
clanged to at sunset, shutting Chinese
subjects out in a separate city by
themselves, as if their 'onuqest were
just accomplished.
HAM-SELLING AS A BUSINESS.
To the long list of curious find un
usual occupations by which men live,
the Kansas City Star adds that of the
“ham-smeller” in a packltife-house.
His duty is to inspect meat '.products
trier and his nose. He stands in a
♦rrel to keep his clothes from being
bv.ied by the dripping brine, and the
hams are brought to him by workmen.
A ham is laid before him, and he
plunges his sharp-pointed <rier into It,
withdraws it and passes it swiftly be
neath his nose. The trier always
goe down to the knuckle-joint. In test
ing meat in that manner the man with
the <rier judges by the slightest shade
of difference between the smell of one
pice of and another. The smell
of the meat Is almost universally
sweet, and that is what he smells; the
slightest deviation from the sweet
smell is therefore appreciable. It is
not the degree of taint that he expects
to find, but the slightest odor that is
not sweet. When he detects an odor
he throws the meat aside, and if it is
not unwholesome it is sold as "re
jected” meat, but if it is tainted it
goes to the rendering tank. The ham
tester smells meat from 7 o’clock in
the morning until 5 o’clock at night,
and his sense must never become
jaded or inexact, or his usefulness
would be at an end. Ham-testing is
not a pursuit dangerous to the health,
as tea-tasting is supposed to be, but
the ham-smeller with a cold in his
head is like a piano-player who loses
his arm in a railroad wreck.
SCENERY AMONG TE ANDES.
Hezekiah Butterworth conTHniKes
to the National magazine for August
an interesting account of his Journey
through the Argentine republic. In
writing of the trip across the Andes,
he says: “The scenery in crossing from
one ocean <o the other is indesenoabiy
grand, especially in me mountains,
were covered with snow, and ft lay
so smooth that as the brilliant moon
light fell upon It the mountains looked
dazzling white or absolutely black.
Then, although we were 13,000 feet
above the sea, the extinct volcano of
Tupungato rises above that as much
higher as does Mt. Washington from
the surrounding country. men, too,
Aconcagua which can be seen by an
other route a little further to the
north of one I crossed by, is 23,000
feet high, or as high as Mt. Blanc and
ML Washington together.”
*. FOOETKT SBELLING.
Inquirers Want to Know What Cer
tain Words Mean.
Since the publication in The Chi
cago phronicle of the definitions of
certain slang words and phrases and
an exposition of their use by the mas
ters of English literature so many re
quests have poured in from Wellesley,
Ferry Hall al Evanston and other
ladiefe’ seminaries for a supplementary
dictionary, inclosing several words
and phrases which puzzled the fair
correspondents, that the following
'brief addendum to the dictionary is
presented. It would appear that the
spread of highly expressive slang is
very rapid in institutions of learning
and the use of phrases which, while
obscure at first hearing, are full of
meaning to the initiated, is far more
common than some of the learned pro
fessors are aware.
The attempts of Superintendent
Andrews to simplify spelling by adopt
ing to a certain extent *he fonetlc
system have been met with a ready
response by teachers and pupils alike
and there is reason to believe that a
broadening of the idea to include the
use of such slang phrases as are ex
pressive to a high degree is not among
the impossibilities.
A.
ALL OUT, adj. Tired; the condition
of being broke or winded; unable to
get up before the count of ten; Mal
achyed.
B.
BAT, n. A state of inebriety lasting
several days; a good one. (b.) A blow
administered with the clenched fist.
Six rogues in buchram—each one
did I bat.
BALL, n. A drink made with ice,
seltzer and other materials.
The trumpets are sounding from
castle and hall
And gayly each henebman is copping
a ‘ball.
—Tennyson.
BITE, v. i. To accept as truth a fic
titious story; to stand for the bull con.
BREAK, n. An ,nopportune re
mark, tending to the embarrassment of
some listener.
Across the fields their pensive way
they take, '
Silent and fearful lest they make a
break.
—Pope.
C.
CINCH, n. A certainty; a horse that
cannot lose the third race; a job in the
hall.
All day he struggled, yielding inch by
inch,
And grimly muttered; ’S death! this is
no cinch.
—Scott.
CREEPERS, n. Rubber shoes or
rubber heels affected by porch climbers
and second-story workers to facilitate
their labors.
CHOP, v. i. To quit; to cease work
or any other disagreeable task.
To chop or not to chop? That is the
question.
Shak.
D.
DUCAT, n. A ticket of admission to
a race track or other inclosure; the
goods to get by the boy on the gate.
DAFFY, adj. Not of sound mind;
nanny; a little to the bad in the gar
ret.
And the loud laugh that tips the daffy
guy.
Goldsmith.
F.
FROST, n. A theatrical production
which receives scant favor; a turn
down; the delivery of the cracked ice.
When other lips and other hearts
To you but a trc.it.
Moore.
FAKE, n. A twenty-round fight end
ing in a draw; anything not genuine;
a phony; a cablegram quoting Ad
miral Dewey on international ques
tions.
Fake! Fake! Fake! In cold pray
dawn, Oh, see!
And I know that my tongue ne’er
uttered
The things they ascribe to me.
Dewey.
G.
GEEZER, n. Anyone described in a
conversation. Syn., “guy.”
GAZABO, n. A descriptive term ap
plied to mankind generally; a hobo.
Here rests his head upon the lap of
earth
A poor gazabo who was always
broke.
—Gray.
GOOD THING, n. A horse that will
open at 6 to 1, go to 20 to 1 at the post
and finish a bad last; any easy source
of money; a mark.
The lark is up to meet the sun, the bee
is on the wing.
And out to Harlem I must run. for I
have a good thing.
Old Rhyme.
GRAFT, n. A calling which brings in
money without great physical effort;
the introduction of farmers to seduc
tive games of chance.
The skipper blew a whiff from his pipe
and a scornful laugh he laughed,
‘“Just tell the police to con e,” said he (
“it’s each man to bis graft.”
Idylls of the Ivanhoe.
KICK, n. A pocket; any place of con
cealment for money or valuables.
Dig deep while sluggards sleep
And in your kick the coin you’ll keep.
Franklin.
KILLING, n. Gathering in much
coin from bookmakers; getting the
soft down on a horse at a long price.
KIP, v. i. To sleep; to give the pad a
game; to put the alarm clock out of
business.
To die—to kip. To kip—perhaps to
dream —
Ah, there’s the game.
Shak.
L.
LIFT, v. t To take surreptitiously;
to cop; vulgarly, to “steal.”
As some tall gun who lifts a bunch of
lace,
Sneaks for the door and straightway
Reaves the place.
Goldsmith.
n. A Ijat; any head covering.
Syn., “bonnet,” skypiece.”
LIT UP, adj. Attired in a gorgeous
manner; decked out with the glad
rags. 4
“Hold!” cried Khorhassan, “ere we
start to sup.-
Just tell me why you’re all lit up.”
Moore.
M.
MAIN STEM, n. The principal per
sonage in a city or assemblage, the
works. Syn., Jim Jeffries, Mark
Hannah, the prince of Wales.
Lives of great men still remind us
We can’t al! be the main stem.
Longfellow.
MOP, v. t. To drink up i In large
quantities as beer, water or other
fluid; to dispose of by drinking.
Thus does the fool break loose on Sun
day night
And try to mop in everything in sight.
Pope.
It.
RINGER, n. Oue who takes another’s
place; (b) one who bears a remark
able resemhlance to another; a double.
I am but a humble ringer,
Curfew shall not ring tonight.
Ruskin.
P.
PIPE, v. 1. To take notice; to rubber,
b. An exclamation of warning intended
to direct the attention.
Angels and ministers of grace defend
us. Pipe! where it comes again!
Shak.
PACKAGE, n. A gathering of joyful
mixtures which cause temporary lo
comotor ataxia; a jag; a bunch of the
Willies.
The landlady an’ Tam grew gracious
Until his package was a peach.
Burns.
N.
NIT, adv. A word of negation. Syn.,
“Nix.” b. A worthless fellow; one who
hasn't got the change in his clothes;
a lobster.
Yet Brutus says that Caesar was a nit.
Shak.
NEXT, adj. Having an understand
ing of what is going forward; wise;
hep to the game.
Robert of Sicily slowly read the text,
Then raised his head and murmured,
“I am next.”
Longfellow.
S.
SLEEPERS, n. Money left on the
bar by careless customers; checks un
claimed on a roulette table and cop
ped by wise boys.
STEM, n. The bamboo pipe used by
opium smokers.
STEM TALK, n. Conversation of a
fanciful nature seemingly inspired by
a long dally with the dope.
STAND FOR, v. i. To allow; to ac
cept without comment.
"This is more than I can stand for,"
Quoth the raven; “Cut it out!”
Poe.
ANTS THAT CARRY UMBRELLAS.
Of all the insects in South America
the umbrella ants are the most curious
and interesting. They are also called
wee-wees. They throw up great mounds
of earth along the forest paths, and
from the mounds radiate well-beaten
roads four or five inches wide, running
in all directions. The umbrella ants,
when they build near a garden, give
rise to the question which is to survive
—themselves or the garden—for they
will eat up the plants. They will
strip a good-sized orange tree in a
night and carry off the spoil cut in
thumb-nail pieces, which they store
up in their homes.. It was necessary,
in one instance, to remove a mound of
the umbrella ants’ building, and 250
cubic yards of earth had to be dug
before the task was accomplished. The
ants have four classes —queens, driv
ers, workers and builders. When
once they have made up their minds to
strip a certain tree nothing but death
will stop them. A faint Idea of the
numbers of ants in a hill can be gained
from the statement that one of their
paths to a tree, nearly half a mile
long, will be thronged with the multi
tudes carrying their umbrella-llke
liads above their heads, while thous
ands upon thousands are swarming in
the doomed tree. If caught in the
rain they drop their loads and scurry
home, for they hate water.—Perason’s
Weekly.
JAPANESE SUICIDES.
Japanese public authorities are wor
ried over the increase in Die number
of suicides. Most of them seemed to
be caused by love, and the simultane
ous suicide of two lovers parental in
terference or want of money is becom
ing frequent. There has been an ave
rage of thre fuch eass a week in Yoko
hama alone during the last
most popular plan of exit is for the
couple to tie themselves together, and,
leaping into the sea or river, die in
each other’s arms. Suicide has al
ways been regarded in Japan as a
justifiable way of avoiding trouble, nnd
Japanese romances contain many such
instance*.—Chicago Tribune.
LUXURIES AND NECESSITIES
i '
He wanted a straw hat for his son.
Ten cenis was the price he wanted to
pay. The merchant showed him a hat
priced At l.s cent*. “I can buy a car
load or them at 10 cents each.” “You
can beet ns,” said the merchant as he
pitched It back into the box. The
man went out, followed by an almost
bare-headed boy wearing a disappoint
ed look. V An hour later that same
man weni to a place where drink is
sold, pal* ten cents for an ounce of
whispy and did not beat down the
barkeepA - one cent. The boy still
needs p lat.—Sandwich Argus.
TUBERCULOSIS AND DIET.
Shown Meat Eating is Not Conducive
to Consumption.
Curious facta noted In London zoo
logical gardens seem to bear hard
against the theories of the belie ers in
a vegetable diet for human beings.
They are still more opposed to the
growing belief that tuberculosis, com
monly called consumption, is a scourge
foetered largely by the use of milk and
beef for food.
It has been found that alxiut 25 per
cent, of all the birds and animals that
die in the famous Regent Park "Zoo’*’
perish from tubereukais. That is a
proportion twice as g>mt as the aver
age for human beings, though it is not
much in excess of the ratio for man
when allowance 1s made for deaths in
infancy and early youth. In many
parts of the world .uout one adult in
every four dies of tuberculosis, direct
ly or indirectly.
The animals differ greatly, however,
in their liability to this scourge. Rep
tiles are practically exempt. Their low
temperature seems fatal to the germs
of tuberculosis. The mammals show
a very large per cent of all deaths as
the result of this one disease. Birds
are also much affected. In lx>th the
great clases the .neat eaters are far
less likely to tuberculosis than the
vegetarians.
Among the mammals that eat only
vegetable food, like monkeys, ante
lopes, deer and kangaroos, tuberculosis
causes 26 •'er cent, of the deaths.
Among flhe meat-eating beasts, such
as lions, wolves, leopards and wildcats,
the loss from tuberculosis is only
about 3 per cent of the whole death
rate. The grain-eating birds lost by
tuberculosis is 30 per cent of all that
die. The meat-eating eagles, owls,
vultures and other birds of prey suffer
only 11 per cent, of their total loss as
the work of this terrible destroyer.
These contrasts are certainly impres
! sive. They are calculated to offset a
I good many of the ills attributed to a
i diet consisting in large part of flesh,
and they will surely trouble the believ
ers in the theory that consumption is
spread greatly by the use of beef pro
j ducts as food. The tests in the little
animal world of the London zoo agTee
pretty well with certain broad facts in
human experience. Consumption
greatly disappears in Iceland and
among the Eskimos everywhere. There
only flesh is eaten, broadly speaking.
The scourge of tuberculosis is rare
among the nomad tribes of central
Asia. It is not common with the
Arabs of the desert. In both cases
animal food is the chief dependence of
! the tribes.
These are facts seeming to point
somewhat in the other direction, but
j the balance of evidence appears to be
in favor of the belief that free eating
[of meat and much open air living are
good defenses against consumption.—
! Cleveland I,coder.
! the devil looked AFTER HIS,
own;
A negro in A1 ihama had a qunrrM
with a white man who in the end
pounded him unmercifully with a club.
To get even on the score and set one
notch over for good measure, the negro
soon afterwards burned the white
man’s home; whereupon all the neigh
borhood of whites rose as one person
and went gunning for Buck, the fire
bug, and fh a lonely wood shot him,
so that he lay spread out as flat, limp,
and as full of holes as a flsh-net.
There they left him. A month later
another house was burned. The cul
prit was tracked from the embers to
a distant cabin, where he was cap
tured. Everybody’s eyes grew large of
a sudden and stared widly; every
body’s under jaw sagged like a fool's
for it was Buck they had in hand. He
was yet sore enough of his many
wounds, but vigorous and lively.
When confronted by his accusers, the
leader of whom was bis old enemy,
Buck confessed and begged for mercy.
His plea did not find favor in the
mob's mind; it was thought safer to
hang him and add a few more bullet
holes to the many already troubling
him, which was forthwith done. Dur
ing the process of hauling him on high
there was a merry fusillade, and just
as he reached the extreme altitude,
with the pistol-balls raising a great
dust out of his baggy garments, on<-
missile hit the rope at his neck, and
snip! down he came. His sudden
descent took the crowd by surprise;
but the further fact that he "struck
the ground a-runnln’;” as the man
who told me expressed it, actually
dazed thorn. In Short, Buck <-scaped
by plunging Into a dense wood, and
could not be found again, although
the search lasted for nearly a week
night and day. Five years later a man
who anew Buck well dropped into a
hardware store In Nashville, Tenn
essee, and while transacting some
business chanced to catch a familiar
ray from the grinning face of the
firm's black porter. It was Buck, and
♦he observer held hi* peace, preferring
not to renew the old acquaintance Just
then.—'Maurice Thompson in Llppln
cott's.
NOVEL WAY TO DESTROY A CHIM
NEY.
He*,* is a novel and economical way
of destroying m large brick smoke
staekT TnffTitaek was 266 feet in
height and 21 feet in diameter, and ita
removal was accomplished in the fol
lowing manner. The brick was re
moved from one wide at about three
feet from the ground, and the opening
thus formed Ailed with built-up
wooden blocks between which were
packed tar, sawdust and paraffin. This
material was then set on fire and
caused the chimney to crack and fall
within a space that had previously
been marked on the ground. Not
only was the cost much less than if
the brick had been torn down,
there was also recovered much mateJ|
ial in good condition for future ua^j^|
GERMAN ENGLISH PROVERBS^^
All’s veil dot ends veil, but sanw
dings iss bedder as veil.
v-lien a vonmans schmiles look ondt, "
but vhen she cries tool; a,ore oudt
A vool may make money, budt id
takes a vise man to shpendt id so dot
de vools don’t gfc some.
A friendt do eiterypody iss a friendt
to nopody, budt vhen tie dies he iss
apt do haf a pig vunerul.
\ lien a man looks vise und he ain’t
vise, iber his face is bulldted dot vay
or he has gramps in his shtimmlck
Peaudty iss budt shkln deep, but it
you don’t expeed do eadt it dot is
choost so deeb enough as you vandt R.
All are nod dthives dot dogs park
ad. budt it iss choost as veil do geep
an eye on der man vhat a dog don’t
like.
Der man vot saidt dot a voman iss
as oldt as she looks vas nod righdt in
his headt. A voman iss more as
ten years oldter.
“Age iss a madder off veeling, i>odt
off years,” says de boet. Eef some
beoples veel so bad as dey looks dey
moos* haft liffed a good; vhile.— An
swers.
DEWEY AND HIS YELLOW SHOES.
Wore a Pair, and Wouldn't be laugh
ed Out of Them.
When russet shoes of a bright yellow
hue were introduced, Dewey wore the
first pair that was seen in Washing
ton. They at once became the subject
of jest of all the officers of the Navy
Department.
Early in the afternoon one of
Dewey’s feet began to swell, and his
suffering from his new shoes was
acute. in an interval between the
calls of friends who were still “run
ning” him on his shoes the Commo
dore sought his chief clerk's mom. He
walked with a limp, and finally loos
ened the strings, to relieve his feet
“I suppose I can’t take these things
off now,” he remarked with a bitter
smile, "for those fellows ’ll think they
have driven me to it.”
And for hours the Commodore sat at
his desk in perfect torture.—October
ladies' Home Journal.
MEDALS ARE IN DEMAND.
Anything That Will Serve as a Me
mento Finds Ready Sale.
War medals, mostly won at the cost
of peril and privation, are pawned by
possessore and never redeemed, or are
sent to the hammer by needy relatives
on the decease of the veterans. It may
be here noted that no man on the army
activo strength is allowed to pledge his
medals. As Is well known, war deco
rations that pass by the means stated
and otherwise into commerce are
eagerly purchased by dealers, who dis
pose of thorn to museums, also to pri
vate collectors of every grade, from
American millionaires to British pub
licans.
These discs of silver, especially those
awarded for modern campaigns, from
the Crimean war downward, are oc
casionally put by dealers to novel use.,
By the aid of a blowpipe the insert
lion on the edge can be filled with sil
ver, when the surface if need be is
ready for re-engraving. Doctoring of
the name, rank and regiment hy the
method mentioned is common in the
trade, so It may be that the virtuoso
who imagines he possesses a memento
of the late gallant General Fitz Car
nage, K. C. 8., who distinguished him
self at Balaklava, would be shocked If
he knew that his pet curio is a fraud
and that it belonged to old Tommy
Atkins of the Onety-oneth Foot, who
pawned It before he retired into the
workhouse to die.
Again, officers serving or retired
sometimes lose their medals, or have
them feloniously annexed. Sooner
than go through the war office red
tape mill to procure duplicates relet
tered medals are obtained from dealers.
Mendicants get hold of the medals In
order to exhibit them to credulous and
benevolent folks and thus extract more
liberal alms. War decorations are
also occasionally sported by ow~
armed or single-legged Organ grinders.
Such gentry warrant themselves to be
British, and plead for patronage as a
matter of national sentiment and as
opposed to the claims of the Kuftxon.
Mill musical contingent of Invadectk
These medal-displaying humbugs are
seldom ex-soldlers, far less have they
been disabled In active service. They
are at times considerably "out" In re
spect of a bit of medal ribbon shown.
Tor Instance, an organ grinder ot
about 25 years of age was observed in
llolborn the other day sporting the
Crimean and Mutiny ribbons.
Sometimes an actor possessed of a
passion for realism, who may have to
Impersonate on the stage the hero nf
100 fights, invests in real medals with
which to cover the breast of n.s tunic.
Also genuine war decoratlt ns adorn
the uniformed presentments of emi
nent warriors in the best-class wax
exhibitions throughout the country.
A year or two ago a paragraph went
the rounds of the papers to the effect
that a king of a tribe on the west
coast of Africa had a mania for col
lecting British war medals, and that
a city firm bad a standing order to
supply his sable majesty. The klnifc
owned a major general’s tunic on'
which were sewn—both back and front
and from collar to tails—medals and
clasps from those of the peninsula and
Waterloo downward. This garment
the monarch proudly sported on extra
special state occasions.—Regiment.