Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume], December 28, 1899, Image 4

About Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925

Image provided by: Wisconsin Historical Society

                
ONE WAY TO TRAVEL
ENGLAND'S QUEEN HAS ALU fHE
COMFORTS OF HOME
NO NOISE AND NO SMOKE
Everything in at a Standstill While
the Royal Train is Passing—Fur
nishings of the Cars and the
Many Luxuries En Route for the
Queen.
Annually Queen Victoria visits the
Rivera and it is of one the three jour
neys she makes each year. The other
two journeys are to Balmoral from
Windsor castle and to Osborne on the
adjournment of the court season.
The ordinary traveler would smile at
any of these journeys and would class
them as mere bagatelles, but the queen
In tin* Koval (!ar.
is not ordinary in anything, except,
perhaps, in her love for her children
and grandchildren, and in that she is
just like any other old lady. The
Journeys do not bother the queen
much, but a small army of attendants
and officials excite themselves over a
paltry trip of five hundred miles or so
by railroad to a degree that can scarce
ly be comprehended by the American
mind.
If a trip of this kind were con
templated by a traveler here he would
take the train at night and expect to
wake up at. ills destination the next
morning, and that would be all there
would be to it. Or. lie Would take an
early morning train and expect to
reach ills destination in the evening In
time for a good dinner.
But it is a very different matter when
the queen goes a traveling. The date
of the journey is set at least one month
in advance, and then there is no rest or
Wlhmv tlu* QtuH'ii Most ('omtnonlv Sits.
peace until the trip ha. been safely
made. The officials of the railroad over
which the royal personage is to travel,
work themselves into a perfect fever
oftxcUrment in making the elaborate
arrangements.
Utile or nothing Is published by the
newspapers about the journey, as it is
not considered a wise policy to let the
queen's subjects know too much about
the arrangements. In the fear that some
crank armed with the knowledge might
station himself :tt a convenient point
and endeavor to blow up her majesty
or wreck the royal train.
When the queen journeys north to!
Balmoral, about 590 miles from Lon
don, the train runs at a uniform speed
of forty-five miles an hour. If the en
gineer made the pace forty-seven miles
or forty-three miles he would probably
lose his job. Forty-five miles is the
i royal speed, no faster and no slower.
There is always a pilot engine which
| runs in advance of the royal train
about fifteen minutes. Some high of
j ticials are on the pilot to see that the
[tracks are clear and in perfect condi-
I tion and that the signals are working
Jail right. Afte' the pilot has passed
j nothing can cross the tracks. The
! road closed until the
Iloyallloyal train passes. If farmers wish to
cross the tracks they must wait until
the special officers detailed at all the
grade crossings give them permission.
In its passage through the kingdom
the royal train arrests all activity for
the time being.
When the queen starts from London
| everything has been arranged. At the
Paddington station there is a suite of
i waiting rooms for royalty only. Of
J course, the queen never has to wait for
trains like ordinary people, but never-
Uheless she has her waiting rooms.
The apartments are magnificently fur
nished and are located in the center
of the huge building. There is a royal
entrance to the station which leads
directly to the train platform, and on
either jdde of the passageway are the
waiting rooms. The main waiting room
is to the left of the hall, and on one
side of the doorway is a painting of
the queen and on the other side a
pain'ing of the prince consort.
This room is lighted by one window
tilled with ground glass facing the
front, and barred on the outside with
artistic iron work. The upholstering
of the furniture is very handsome, and
when not in use is carefully protected
l>j covers, which render it impervious
to dust or Isindon fog. The walls
are paneled with a material of silken
texture, surrounded by a hand-painted
floral border. Then there is the writ
ing table, placed against the window,
which, however, has never been used
hy the queen in the memory of man. In
fact, the queen rarely enters the room
as she invariably passes directly to the
train. Hut the waiting rooms are al
ways in readiness for her and are
polished and furnished up a week in
advance if the date of the journey.
The cars which her majesty travels
in were made especially for her use.
These are not called cars, however,
hut are spoken of as saloons. Kach
car is forty feet In length, and at both
ends the buffers are covered with thick
vulcanized padding to obviate any oon
eussion. Then at each bottom corner
there is the carved head of a lion, and
the steps leading out from the four
doors fold out to twice the breadth of
an ordinary carriage footboard. The
whole saloon is supported by laminated
springs of bright polished steel, which
are sensitive to the slightest oscilla
tion.
The queen is greatly opposed to be
ing jolted about while railroading, and
her attendants see that the springs on
the ear are in fine working order.
The queen also dislikes the noise of
railroad travel and there is a royal de
cree which provides that all switching
operations must be suspended, at least
for half an hour before the royal train
it. due to pass, and all engineers on
waiting trains are required to prevent
their engines “emitting smoke, making
a noise by blowing off steam” or other
wise committing offenses which might
prove disagreeable to her majesty.
Each of the railroads used by the
queen has its royal saloon or car. That
of the Great Western has three main
divisions, the centra! one being for the
queen and the other two for her lady
and gentlemen attendants respectively.
The queen’s apartments resemble a
tiny drawing room, with numerous
easy chairs and a broad couch. These
are upholstered in cream colored
morocco, which matches the sides of
tne compartment, cushioned with the
same material. The doors are made of
sycamore, with satin wood mountings,
and the handles, as well as the key
latches, are of carved ivory.
The border design in silk around the
furniture consists of the rose, sham
rock, and thistle, which also figure
conspicuously on the window sashes
and arm rests, which again have the
crown worked in silk upon them. In
the center of the carpet and on the
cushions are the royal coat of arms.
The roof has a border of hand painted
work, and oil is the artificial illumi
nant when daylight is shut out by the
blinds and curtains made out of cream
silk.
The royal coach of the London North
Western system is much the same. The
interior is upholstered in dark blue
silk and the arrangement is much like
that of the Great Western. The queen’s
car is always placed in the center of
the train to be better protected in "ase
of accident. Usually the royal t in
is made up of sixteen cars, as e
amount of baggage taken by the qu
is something stupendous. Very oft*,.,
she a!takes her favorite horses and
carriages with her. and these help to
swell the number of cars.
Each car carries a couple of extra
guards and the train is fitted with a
telegraphic outfit which can be speedily
adjusted in event of emergency. Noth
ing is cooked for the queen on the
train. Stops are made at certain
places and provisions which have been
specially prepared are taken on. The
queen ever spends a night on the train,
as her journeys are always accom
plished In day time.
THE ROAD TO APIA.
(Lieutenant Lansdale, while retreat
ing before u large force of Samoan reb
els. was wounded below the knee and
could not retreat with his comrades.
Ensign Monaghan refused to leave
him and save his own life. but. seiz
ing a rifle from a disabled man, made
a brave defense against a horde of
rebels, until both the American officer?
were slain by the savages.)
The sunny road to Apia
Is strewn with blossoms wide,
But many a savage foe lurks hid
Within the jungle-side.
'Twas there the gallant Lansdale
stood.
One bygone April day,
When unseen hordes cut off from view
The warships in the bay.
#
“Halt! Halt!" he cried. “Stand, lads
and Are!
What recks it how or when
We die, so that they tell at home
We died like flghting-men!”
His eyes grew dim. yet still beheld
Within that fated zone
His brave men falling at his feet,
Till one man stood alone.
And that was Ensign Monaghan.
Across his cheek he felt
The fire: but in his veins there leaped
The red blood of a Celt.
“Good-bye!” said feeble
vole —
His ensign heard him not:
He. too. w’as passing with his chief
Before that rain of shot.
So died this band. What flag can
droop
On foreign shores or seas;
What shield be lost to history
Upheld by men like these?
Stay for an hour. oh. loving hands,
That weave the victor's crown,
And raise a stone where Lonsdale fell
And Monnghan sank down!
—John Janies Meehan in Leslie's
WHEAT AREA INCREASED.
Washington, Dec. 16. —The statisti
cian of the department of agriculture
reports that the wheat crop in the
United States for 1599 at 517.300.000
bushels or 12.3 bushels per acre. The
production of winter wheat is placed
at 291,700,000 bushels, that of spring
wheat at 255,600.000 bushels. Every
important wheat growing state has
I been visited by special agents of the
; department and changes in acreage
are the result of their investigations
; The newly seeded area of winter wheat
I is estimated at 30.150.000 acres, which
1 is about 200.000 acres greater than that
shown in the fall of 189. Sowing
wheat is still going on in California
■and some of the southern stat sand
i the foregoing estimate is subject to
correction. The average condition is
| 97.1. The acreage sown with winter
; rye is estimated at .7 per cent,
l than that of last year.
OLDER THAN AZTECS.
Cliff Dwellers of the Southwest Ante
date the Sphinx.
Major E. H. Cooper has spent the
greater part of the last twenty-three
years in explorations among the
former homes of the cliff dwellers, and
has collected facts and materials that
have thrown much light on their man
ners, customs, arts and religion. His
travels have taken him over an area
600 miles square, including the cliff
dwellings found in Colorado, Utah,
Arizona and Mexico, and the results of
his studies have led him to differ from
many of the accepted theories.
According to Mr. Cooper, the cliff
dwellers were an indigenous race from
the Moquis, Navajoes and Pueblos have
descended. Long before history began
recording human deeds and achieve
ments these people pursued the even
tenor of their way on the surface of
the earth, not yet having conceived the
desire to emulate the mountain goat
and scale the giddy heights of the sur
rrunding cliffs. They were a numer
ous and peaceful people, tending their
flocks and cultivating fields of corn
and cotton. Their houses were built
of stone and cement, and while they
were not triumphs of architectural art,
their durability puts to shame many
more pretentious edifices of later years.
How long they lived thus no one can
tell; but it is a cheerful thought, not
to say a brain-terrifying conception,
when it is brought home to average
minds that ruins have been found in
the Montezuma Valley twenty-two
feet below the surface in alluvial de
posits and extending twelve feet
farther down, while geologists sit
calmly by and state that it takes 1,000
yards to form one inch of such a soil.
They must be very ancient. Be this as
it may, these quiet folk were suddenly
beset by the Navajoes from the north,
and, although physically large and
vigorous, they were not possessed of
a warlike spirit, and after being smit
ten on the cheek, rather than turn the
other cheek they—ln the language of
a later day poet—looked aloft and
climbed out of danger.
Henceforth they proceeded to walk
up the face of the cliffs and along
beetling crags and precipices until
they made their homes in the great
caves that perhaps an overruling Prov
idence had hewed out expressly for
them. Contemplating these airy dom
iciles and the serpentine and precip
itous method of attaining them, the
thought how a cliff dweller who had
stayed out late with the boys ever at
tained the proper doorstep confounds
and terrifies the imagination, and the
act is worthy to be placed among the
achievements of great men.
Their ascension day is supposed to
have occurred some 3,000 years ago.
In fact, the Moquis, who, according to
Mr. Cooper, are the direct descendants
of the cliff people, speaking the orig
inal language, have a tradition of how
the cliff dwellers were driven into the
Grand Canyon and south of San Juan
by red men from the north. This cor
responds with a similar tradition of
the Navajoes that once, many years
ago, they drove a white people out of
the country. The cliff dwellers were
a light-colored people, as are the Mo
quls of the present day.
Some of the ledges on which the
houses were built are 1,800 feet in
height and are overhung by masses of
rocks running up 500 feet higher.
Ropes were let down from above which
enabled the people to reach their
homes. These houses were built of
stone fastened by cement and the en
tire outside was plastered over. The
people were decidedly gregarious, liv
ing together in large buildings which,
perhaps, were the precursors of the
modern apartment-houses.
The cliff palace in the Manco Can
yon. Colorado, is from three to seven
stories in height, 680 feet long and con
tains 1,100 rooms. The latter are from
fifteen to tw'enty feet in size, having
cement floors and walls, and they cer
tainly did not lack for ventilation or
unobstructed view. The cliff houses
are much more carefully constructed
than those of the ground and make
considerable pretensions to architec
tural effects.
The cliff dwellers lived in the stone
age, and although inhabiting a coun
try rich in mineral wealth, there is no
evidence that it was ever put to any
practical use. Their weapons were
bows and arrows tipped with obsidian
or agate, clubs and spears. Consider
able skill was shown in the pottery
and basket work. The pottery, says
Mr. Cooper, was all hand made, no
knowledge of the potter’s wheel being
in evidence.
Few attempts were made at fanciful
shapes, which so distinguished the
Peruvian product, but their ornamen
tation was strictly up to date. The
pigments were applied and rubbed in,
and then the article was heated or
fired. This was repeated three times,
resulting in a glazed surface that has
stood the weer of centuries The bas
ket work greatly resembles the pro
ducts of Mexico and Arizona. Weaving
wool and cotton was another art pos
sessed in a high degree of excellence,
and samples of cloth and blankets sim
ilar to those made by the Navajoes
show that the cliff climber could have
a clean boiled shirt for Sunday in ad
dition to sleeping warm at night.
No inscription has ever been found
amour, the remains of this people, watl
carvings attributed to them having
been cut. according to Mr. Cooper, oy
the Navajoes. Religious were they,
but In a most unpleasant way. They
worshiped the sun as the source of all
life and the moon as representing
darkness, which brings rair. without
which nothing can live. Rut in or
der to square themselves with the sun
and wash away their own shortcom
ings, they restored to the dismal prac
tice of human sacrifice.
Evidence goes to show that the
sacred pollen known among the South
west Indians as hooddentin was prized
among this people and used in their
ceremonies. They believed, as do the
Moquis, that they were descended from
snakes, hence, as the lecturer says, the
snake dance is an ancestral worship, a
sort of Shinto performance, so to
speak, only the Chinamen go in on a
larger scale and select dragons.
Convulsions of nature and the nat
ural decay of the race have swept this
people out of existence. Mr. Cooper
states that the cliff dweller lives today
in the Moqui Indian; not only by di
rect descent, but in language and arts.
Another branch, moving to the east
ward, became the mound builders, the
sinuous lines of whose earthworks
preserve the form of the sacred snake.
The line of descent then went south
to Colthuna, thence to the Toltecs, the
Aztecs, the Pueblos and the Zuni, and
so back to the starting point.
The root of the language of these
people, so far as it is known, is identi
cal, and a scientific classification of
facts and fancies of tangible material
and mythological lore makes the cliff
dweller the Adam of the southwest
ern country. No epics have marked
the progress of this race, but their
simple homes, perched on the rocky
ledges, have been a source of greater
interest and instruction than the fallen
glories of the Incas.
AN HISTORIC TABLE.
Used When the Famous Treaty of
Ghent Was Signed.
In the world’s curious shuffling of
things the table upon which the treaty
of Ghent was signed has found its way
to San Francisco, and a precious pos
session it is for a city where so little
is hallowed by historic memories. It
is one of the treasures in the home f
Dr. and Mrs. A. H. Voorhies, whose
daughter several years ago married
James Malcolm Henry of Virginia. His
family came along in close and parall
el lines with the Madisons and Taylors,
and the table finally became the prop
erty of the Henry family. When Mrs.
Henry returned to San Francisco the
table came with her.
The history of the table was not
formally told and duly attested until
it came west. There was no need of
it before. The children and grandchil
dren and great-grandchildren knew ev
ery word of it by heart. But for Mrs.
Voorhies, the two eldest of the family,
one two years past 90 and the other
four years his junior, made the fol
lowing affidavit:
“We, the undersigned, George P.
Tayloe, of Roanoke county, Virginia,
aged 92 years, and Henry A. Tayloe of
Hale county, Alabama, aged 88 years,
the surviving sons of the late Col. John
Tayloe, of ‘Mount Airy,’ Virginia, and
of The Octagon, Washington, D. C.. do
hereby certify that the table on which
the treaty of peace between the United
States and Great Britain, known as the
treaty of Ghent, was signed by Presi
dent Madison, is now the property of
George Ogle Tayloe of Ferneaux, King
George county, Virginia. When the
president’s house in Washington was
burned by the British in 1814, Col.
Col. John Tayloe, who was then with
his family at his country residence in
Virginia, placed his own residence,
which still stands on the northeast
corner of New York avenue and Eignt
eenth street northwest, in the city of
Washington, at the disposal of his
friend, Mr. Madison, as a temporary
residence; and it was on a circular
table, in the circular library, on the
second floor of The Octagon, that the
president signed the treaty, on the 17th
of February, A. D. 1815. We were fa
miliar with the table when it stood in
the library of our father’s house in
Washington, where it remained for
many years after the treaty was signed.
It is of mahogany and has a circular
top, 3 feet 6 inches in diameter. This
is covered with cloth, within a mahog
any border, and turns in a horizontal
plane on a pivot. The table is fur
nished with 12 drawers', extending all
around it, each bearing an inlaid ivory
label. The top is supported by a center
post, a round cylinder of mahogany,
and this in turn by three feet. The
table was inherited from its original
owner, Col. John Tayloe. by his son.
the late Edward Thornton Tayloe, and
from him by his son. George Ogle Tay
loe, the present owner. Given under
our hands and seals this, the 17th day
of June, 1896.-—George P. Tayloe, Hen
ry A. Tayloe.”
And then follows the certificate of
T. F. Barksdale, a notary of the city
of Roanoke, attesting to the genuine
ness of the signatures. Both names
are especially well written for men of
advanced years. And the following is
just what President Madison added on
the 17th of February, 1815, on the cir
cular table, to the famous treaty which
closed the last war between England
and America, and which was signed
in Ghent the day before Christmas.
1814. when the United States was repre
sented by John Quincy Adams. John
A. Bayard. Henry Clay, Jonathan Rus
sell and Albert Gallatin;
"To All and Singular to Whom These
Presents Shall Come —Greeting; Be it
known that James Madison. President
of the United States of America, having
seen and considered the written treaty,
do by and with the advice and consent
of the senate thereof, accept, ratify,
and confirm the same and every clause
and article thereof. In testimony
thereof I have caused the seal of the
I’nited States to be hereunto affixed
and signed the same with my hand.
Done at the city of Washington this
17th day of February, in the year of
our Tx>rd 1815. and of the sovereignty
and independence the twenty-ninth.—
James Madieon."
The room in which the table stood
when the treaty was signed was the
library of the house and the one Pres
ident Madison appropriated for his
official hours. Like the table, it is
circular, and the convex windows reach
to the floor. A large fire-place added
to the comfort and picturesqueness.
The old table came originally from
England. It is an interesting piece of
cabinet work. The mahogany now has
a polish like glass. On each of the doz
en drawers which follow the circle ot
the table the keyhole is cut through a
diamond of inlaid ivory, and on a
plate, also inlaid, are engraved the let
ters of the alphabet in twos and threes.
They occupy nine drawers, and the re
maining three are devoted to Letters,
Receipts and Bills Paid.
Anticipating the modern inventions
and appliances for holding books and
papers, the maker of this table con
trived a sort of jack-in-the-box on the
top of the table, which may be ad
justed at any desired angle for a paper
or book. The felt fitted to the top ot
the table Mrs. Voorhies has restored,
but the original age-eaten one is pre
served. When the table reached here
each drawer had two mahogany knobs,
but Mrs. Voorhies learns from the Tay
loe family that these replaced the orig
inal ones of ivory, so she intends, if
possible, to restore this striking feat
ure of the most notable table in Amer
ica.—San Francisco Chronicle.
CRUSOE’S ISLAND.
Captain Slocum Stops at Juan Fernan
dez on His Way Around the World.
In the November instalment of his
Century articles on his “single-handed”
voyage around the world in his sloop
the Spray, Capt. Joshua Slocum de
scribes a visit to the island where Alex
ander Selkirk passed five solitary
years—an island which several times,
of late years, has been reported as
sunk: —
The Spray being secured, the island
ers returned to the coffee and dough
nuts, and I was more than flattered
when they did not slight my buns, as
the professor had done in the Strait of
Magellan. Between buns and dough
nuts there was little difference except
in name. Both had been fried in tal
low, which was the strong point in
both, for there was nothing on the
island fatter than a goat, and a goat is
but a lean beast, to make the best of
it. So with a view to business I hooked
my steelyards to the boom at once,
ready to weigh out tallow, there being
no customs officer to say, “Why do you
do so?’’ and before the sun went down
the islanders had learned the art of
making buns and doughnuts. I did not
charge a high price for what I sold, but
the ancient and curious coins I got in
payment, some of them from the wreck
of a galleon sunk in the bay no one
knows when, I sold afterward to anti
quarians for more than face-value.
In this way I made a reasonable profit.
I brought away money of all denomina
tions from the island, and nearly all
there was, so far as I could find out.
Juan Fernandez, as a place of call, is
a lovely spot. The hills are well
wooded, the valleys fertile, and pour
ing down through many ravines are
streams of pure water. There are no
serpents on the island, and no wild
beasts other than pigs and goats, of
which I saw a number, with possibly a
dog or two. The people live without
the use of rum or beer of any sort.
There was not a police officer or a law
yer among them. The domestic econ
omy of the island was simplicity it ielf.
The fashions of Paris did not affot the
inhabitants; each dressed accorffijg to
his own taste. Although there was no
doctor, the people were all healthy,
and the children were all beautiful.
There were about forty-five souls on
the island all told. The adults were
mostly from the mainland of South
America. One lady there, from Chile,
who made a flying-jib for the Spray,
taking her pay in tallow, would be
called a belle at Newport. Blessed
island of Juan Fernandez! Why Alex
ander Selkirk ever left you was more
than I could make out.
A large ship which had arrived some
time before, on fire, had been stranded
at the head of the bay, and as the sea
smashed her to pieces on'the rocks,
after the fire was drowned, the island
ers picked up the timbers and utilized
them in the construction of housos,
which naturally presented a ship-like
appearance. The house of the king of
Juan Fernandez, Manuel Carroza by
name, besides resembling the ark. wore
a polished brass knocker on its only
door, which was painted green. In
front of this gorgeous entrance was a
flag mast all ataunto, and near It a
smart whale boat painted red and blue,
the delight of the king’s old age.
I of course made a pilgrimage to the
old lookout place at the top of the
mountain, where Selkirk spent many
days peering into the distance for the
ship which came at last. . . . The
cave in which Selkirk dwelt while on
the island is at the head of the bay!
now called Crusoe bay. It is
around a hold headland west of the
present anchorage and landing. Ships
have anchored there, but it affords a
very different berth. . . . ff uan
t-ernandez was once a convict station.
A number of caves in which the pris
oners were kept. damp, unwholesome
dens, are no lopger in use, and no more
prisoners are sent to the island.
Caratnbo! Of this beneyoientassim
:lat;on. said Aguinaldo. “I like the
Spanish kind the best. The Spanish
gave me $400.000 to leave the country.
The Americans are chasing me across
every swamp in the island. Caratnbo!
I !1 cede the Philippines back to Spain.”
* rival to the sugar trust, with
sluu.obo.ooo capital, will be incorpor
ated at Dover. Del.