The herald. [microfilm reel], February 06, 1898, Image 21

About The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
SLIDING DOWN HILL
IN THE GOOD OLD TIMES.
WHEN I was a boy I Jived in a
small village built on the side of
a great hill. Stretching across the
slope, beginning at its torow and
en-ling at the valley helow, with a
course shaped muoh like a gigan
tic letter 8, was a country road. The
village was located at the second re
verse curve.
This track was about two miles in
length. The hill ascended in a straight
line trom the foot thereof to the top,
but that was too steep for safe coast
ing; the incline of tho road, however,
Fun For Old-Fashioned Youngsters.
owing to its windings, was admirably
suited to that sport. Consequently the
villagers and the residents of the farm
houses roundabout were confirmed
coasters. Ry this I do not mean the
boys only, but the girls and the men
and women also, save a very few who
were too deficient In appreciation of in
nocent fun.
I ought also to say, before I begin my
little story, that no one there at that
time had over heard of coasting bobs,
and not one called the sport coasting.
A few who read hooks knew that :t
was so termed in other places, but to
US it was always "riding down hill."
EXCITING SPORT.
Most of our coasting was done on
home-made sleds. Some of the boys
made 'their own. but those Who were
financially able had them built by the
village wagonmaker, who worked out
the runners and the knees as carefully
as he did the felloes and spokes of the
buggies he bulß for the village beaux
and the lumber wagons he constructed
for the farmers.
It was a great occasion to a boy of
that village when he was able to give
the wagonmaker an order for a sled,
and many and earnest were the In
junctions always laid upon the artisan
to get the curve of the runners just
right for speed and to make the whole
structure as light as possible without
sacrificing strength. With regard to
this latter the boys of our village were
quite as insistent as the modern bicycle
rider is with regard to the weight of Ms
wheel; for while the ride down the
snake-like, two-mile hill road occupied
only a few minutes, the haul hack
again was a matter of from three-quar
ELLEN OSBORN'S FASHION LETTER.
New York, Jan. 28.—Just enough
snow fell this morning to leave the ave
nue slimy. Cab horses and carriage
horses slipped and slid, displaying wor
ried and Wild-eyed countenances. A lit
tle Old Frenchman in a ragged black
coat tottered about with a barrel-or
gan, singing the Marseillaise ln a high
cracked voice, strained with trying to
penetrate the closely curtained and in
hospitable windows. The women who
were abroad had excuse to lift their
skirts boldly, giving full effect to the
of bright silk frilling and flutter
ing about their ankles.
The sun had come out and it touched
a bank of white hyacinths in a florist's
window and an old, old woman who
was coveting them and an up-to-date
girl who tilted on her toes and tried to
look happy while doing so. The girl
was in black, with two brilliant color
patches, like a blackbird with red crest
and wings. The black of her was rough
black, almost shaggy. It was tailor
black, perfect in fit and curve. Six nar
row ruffles broke the line of it, ruffles
that every person on the block respect
ed and turned to gaze after. The ruf
fles represented hundreds of dollars,
which accounted for the reverence that
was paid them; dollars enough to ab
solve the little Frenchman from sing
ing the Marseillaise again until sum
mer and to keep the Old woman in
white hyacinths till she dies, and to do
any number of other things. The ruffles
were made of braid. The braid was
woven in elaborate scroll figures, which
gave a quaint raised design upon its
surface and filled the lower edge of it
just enough to make a wavy natural
ruffle of It, so that it could be set upon
the skirt without gathering. To wear
natural ruffles of this sort is the ambi
tion of five women out of six at the
present time.
The girl with tho tilt and the ruffles
wore a Russian blouse jacket and a
big black hat covered with plumes.
Aside from the ruffles, what made her
tors of an hour to am hour, and a heavy
sled detracted enormously from the
pleasure of the sport.
After the wagomnaker had finished
the wood-work, the blacksmith was
sought for the iron. He, too, waa Im
plored to save weight dn bracing the
knees, but when M came to the shoes
he was Instructed simply to make sure
that the sled was so shod that It would
distance every other.
The boys in that village and their
fathers were divided into two camps
with reference to sled shoes. One camp
believed in shoes of cast-iron, while
the other was wedded to shoes of steel;
and many and heated were the discus
sions that took place In the village
stores and on the school ground regard
ing the relative merits of the two met
als. There was probably no one in the
whole village who did not hold pro
nounced views ln this matter, though
there were some who said that steel
shoes were best in rather moderate
weather, while cast-iron shoes were_
beat when the mercury in tho thermom- -
eter was away down near the bulb. It
may have been just the other way—my
memory is not clear upon that point—
but such a class certainly existed, and
its members held their views with as
much tenacity as the others, in spite of
the fact that both "steel-shoers" and
"cast-lroners" sometimes Impuned their
moral courage, declaring that they were
afraid 'to side one way or the other un
equivocally.
TEN WEEKS OF SPORT.
This village was located in the north
ern tier of states, and so far in the di
rection of the Arctic zon? that snow
always lay there at least three months
and sometimes nearly four. It was
pretty safe to count on ten week 3 of
uninterrupted riding down hill.
Although, as I have said, the older
members ot the community joined in
the sport,with as much enthusiasm as
the youngsters, yet a party of grown
ups coasting alone was a rarity; and so
was a party of daylight riders. There
were two reasons for this latter: First,
the road was likely to be pretty well
crowded with teams in the daytime;
and, second, the youngsters were at
school five days in the week during
most of the daylight hours. There was
some daylight coasting on Saturdays,
though it was counted extra hazardous
and indulged in hy the most foolhardy
only.
On moonlight nights it was not at all
unusual for from fifty to a hundred
sleds to be on the hill. We all used to
start from the village together, and
wait at the top until the last rider for
the evening made his appearance. It
a feature In the streetscaipe Was the
emphatic contrast of her shaggy black
with her two touches of burnt orange.
Her "drop skirt," showing at the street
crossings, and the long scarf tie at her
throat were of the vivid new color, just
making its spring bow in the shops,
Which is perfectly described by its
name "burnt orange."
A block farther along a closed car
riage drew up to the curb, and out of
it stepped a woman, who. throwing
back her wrap to the footman, crossed
the pavement to a bric-a-brac shop,
and for a minute only was one of the
sights of the day. Her light tan cloth
dross was covered from (hem to waist
with Vandyke designs in black satin
stripes, woven into the cloth and run
ning round the skirt horizontally. Near
the bottom these stripes were set far
enough apart to be emphasized by nar
row black velvet ruffles placed between
them, ln Vandykes also. Higher up the
stripes crowded each other as closely
in their deep points as proper contrast
with the tan made possible. The blouse
waist fitted with a high corselet or
Spanish bodice, Vandyked like the
skirt; the blouse itself was of an Orien
tal silk in shades of tan, orange and
given. Black satin revers, turned back
from a puffed front of white chiffon.
The sleeves, of the blouse material, had
no epaulettes to cap them, but a black
satin ruffle was set in at the top—a de
vice adopted by many women who ex
pect to see plain shoulders almost im
mediately, and are having late winter
dresses made with small sleeve orna
ments that can be ripped out in three
minutes.
A young matron went past with head
held erect and showing the satisfied
look that Is, to me, more charscteris-
tic than any other one thing of the
well-to-do New York woman who has
reached 25. Her dress was of royal
blue cloth, with a deep flounce at the
bottom, and above that the skirt was
s/hlrred- to the walat line. Bands of
folttok velvet ribbon set oft tha shirring.
LOS ANGELES HERALD< SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 6, 1898.
was ruleable that the first sled start
ing should be allowed to get well round
'the first curve before the second fol
lowed, and the leader was wont to an
nounce his rounding of the curve by a
long, shrill whoop. We used to reach
great speea on the comparatively
straight stretches, and I haven't the
slightest douibt that we could have
made the run at a sixty-mile an hour
rate, or two minutes from top to bot
tom, had the course been in a beeline.
As it was, six minutes was a slow trip,
and I have known well guided sleds to
reach the valley in three minutes and
thirty seconds.
Naturally it took a skilful steersman
to conduct a Bled the entire length of
the long hill, and many of the young
sters rode only from the top of the
Incline to the village, where there Was
a long stretch of nearly level road
which made it easy to stop there. In
fact, boys under fourteen were forbid
den by a sort of unwritten law to make
the entire run without special permis
sion. There were three ways of steer
ing in vogue. The first was "straddle,"
which needs no description. The sec
ond was called "kernts" (I never saw
it spelled before, but that is the way
it is pronounced), was the most popu
lar. The "kernts" steerer sat well back
on his sled with one leg doubled under
him. using the other as a rudder. If
he had a passenger—and he generally
had, 1n the shape of a bright-eyed, red
cheeked village girl—she sat In front of
him. Passengers taken down the hill
by a straddle steerer sat behind him.
The third method is sufficiently de
scribed by its somewhat comic designa
tion, "belly-whopper." Boys who rode
that way never took passengers, of
course. They did, however, fake their
lives in their hands, so to speak, and
one poor chap, a bright chum of my
own, lost control of his sled and broke
his neck by running into a fence-post
beside the road. It was years after
that before anybodyelse took the long
hill in that reckless fashion.
"PUNGS" FOR THE OLD FOLKS.
The grown-ups among the women
folk were usually taken down the hill
in "pungs," as we used to term the
long, low sleighs with boxes that were
" Features in the Streetscape."
Behind her an older v, an stopped
to look at an embarrass, : dandelion
used by farmers for such'purposes as
spring wagons serve for in the summer
time. The pungs were not brought out
many times each winter for coasting
purposes, and when they were, they
were generally hauled up the hill by a
team of horses, the women who were
to ride down being token up seated on
bundles of straw, as passengers. It was
no easy task to steer a pung down the
long hill, and the biggest, strongest,
most self-possessed young men of the
village were selected to perform it.
They always lashed a big sled to the
front end of the tongue or pole to
which the horses were harnessed when
drawing the pung up, and the steering
was done on this sled. It was rare, in
deed, that one young man assayed this
task alone. Even with the most skil
ful talent on the steering sled, there
were sometimes most disheartening
oversets, but serious accident were not
often met with. It was well worth a
whole evening of any one's time to wi'
ness the jollity of a cargo of pung rid
ers, and to hear the chorus of femi
nine screams from the crowd as a
clumsy old sleigh, guided by two husky
country lads, with clenched teeth and
every nerve set, swung down the long
curves of the hillside road.
HIDING OF THE CRUST.
Sometimes it would rain for a few
hours and afterwards freeze. Then tho
snow on the hillside fields, ordinarily
too soft for coasting, would furnish a
most enticingly enameled crust. The
hill was so steep, however, that a ride
from top to bottom on the crust was
almost never attempted. Rut one win
ter a lot of us went a mile east of the
village where there was no mad in the
way, took down lengths o£ every fence
that could obstruct the course, and en-
Joyed a more exciting and at the same
time more perilous sport than we ever
had known before. We began with our
small sleds only, but later we built a
special sled for crust riding.
We took two pieces of Joist, smoothed
one edge of each, and rounded one end.
Then we connected tho two by cross
pieces. We put no Iron shoos on the
runners, fearing that if we did so our
sled would get the better of us on the
stoop Incline and glaring crust. When
completed, we had a sled upon which
jten or fifteen could find places; and af
ifer making several experimental trips,
we induced a lot of the young women
of the village to become our passengers.
The two best steerers were put In
front, and we started down the hill
with bright prospects for a safe and
speedy ride. But about half way be
tween the -top and bottom one of the
runners struck a stone that was Just
below the surface and had not been ob
served. This slewed us clear around,
and tho sled continued its way back
ward and somewhat to the left of the
course marked out. Of course there
was a tremendous lot of screaming and
yelling, for every one was frightened,
and some rolled off upon the crust half
way down the hill. Before the mis
guided coasting craft had gone far it
struck a sturdy oak tree and split
asunder, —one runner continuing its in
dependent course on one side of the
tree, and the other on the other side.
Of course everybody was spilled, and
sorao were slightly bruised, but no one
was seriously hurt. There were those
among the girls, however, who de
clared the whole scheme a put up job;
which it was not, by any means. But
that trip ended crust riding from the
top to the bottom of the hill that win
ter, and very likely for all time.
Copyright, IS9R, by Bacheller Syndicate.
A Shoplifter's Skirt,
"Did you ever see a shoplifter's
skirt?" asked a detective who is em
ployed In a large department store of
an acquaintance, and then produced a
singular-looking garment which had
been taken off a shoplifter. "The wo
man who had this skirt—'this kick, as
they call it—on had forty-eight differ
ent articles in her possession, stolen
from this store. She was walking in
the street about two blocks away when
■we overtook her. Here is a list of the
things she had managed to secrete:
Nine pairs of kid gloves, 6 pocketbooks,
5 pairs of mitts, 6 pairs of stockings,
pins, 1 pully for a wash lino, a lock, 3
knife rests, 2 plates, 4 bells, 2 pairs of
scissors, 1 can-opener, 1 gloss pitcher,
earrings, 1 small basket, 1 small clock,
1 mouse trap, and 2 oil burners; $16
worth in all."
The skirt was simply a black Calico
walking skirt, with a double lining fast
ened firmly to the outside at the bot
tom and secured at tho waist with two
strong belts. There were capacious
openings at convenient points, and the
skirt was worn beneath an outside
skirt, which had a long slit in the full
pleats to correspond with the opening
in the garment beneath.
11 flower that poked up in a door yard and
i' wondered what to do about the mis
ONE MILLION
EVERY DAY.
Pennies Tfiat Go Into the
In Exchange For
Larger Coin.
ATTIMESNONECONE
THE little penny Is the most agile
coin thait bears the fare of the
goddess of liberty. If all the pen
nies that are now in circulation
In the United States were piled
one upon another, when the pile
was finished it would be one hundred
times as big as the giant Goddess of
Liberty that enlightens a small part of
the world in New York harbor.
If those same pennies were laid edge
to edge they would extend from San
Francisco to St. Petersburg. It is also
true that the tall pile of them referred
to would be 4,000 times the height of
the Eiffel Tower, the tallest in the
world.
All the pennies In I'ie United States
aro stamped at the Philadelphia mint,
but they are not, as most people sup
pose, made there. The government buys
the blank coppers on which the design
is stamped from a western firm, each
thousand cents costing $1.25. So one
hundred cents, with a face value of $1,
cost the government les3 than one-fifth
of that sum.
As a result of all this. Uncle Sam
makes a profit on his pennies that
would drive a pawn broker to suicide
with envy. This would not be true if
all of the pennies that are coined were
presented for redemption. They never
are. however, for fully one-fifth of them
seemingly go out of existence in mys
terious ways. All the ways in which
the pennies are lost are as multifari
ous as the sins of the usurer. If the
lost pennies were weighed, It is esti
mated that they would tip the scale at
2,500 pounds.
"When the blanks from -which' the
cents are made reach the mint they
are first cut Into long strips. These
strips are run through a stamping ma
chine Which cuts them out, imprints the
design and drops them into boxes.
' Then they are run through a sorting
machine, which throws out any that
are imperfectly made and the rest pass
on to a broad table, where they are
counted, not by hand, but by means of
a grooved case into which they fall five
hundred at a time. Then they are tied
up in canvas bags ready to be shipped
away as they are called for.
One would think that the penny
would be the last coin to be counter
feited, but as a matter of fact there
are more spurious cents than there are
of dollars or dimes. A pound of copper,
enough to make 100 cents, can be
bought for 11 cents, so that the coun
terfeiters can make a good profit if
they are skilful enough. So many bad
pennies come to the United States
treasury that some of the Secret Ser
vice men are at work all 'the time look
ing for the men who make them.
"The hardest working member of the
whole coin family is the penny," said
Sunt. Milman of the New York Sub-
Treasury, the other day, as he watched
the unloading of an express wagon
piled hligh with canvas bags of the
copper coins. "It Is the errand boy of
the money world and a remarkably
spry youngster, too, who covers a lot
of ground in the course of a year. It is
also pre-eminently the children's coin,
though I dare say there are a lot of
interesting things about it that those
whose sticky fingers help to keep it un
der motion do not know.
"For Instance, cents often come to
us at the rate of a million a day. The
Sub-Treasury is the clearing-house of
these coins for the metropolitan district
and we handle an Immense number of
them in the course of the year. That
lot just coming in contains $5,000 worth
and represents a day's collection from
a single big slot-machine company.
"Perhaps before the day Is over a
delivery truck from one of the great
department stores will be down here
after $10,000 worth—l.ooo,ooo pieces.
That often happens, and it shows the
take it had made in the season. The
older woman's dress was of smooth
dark blue cloth, with nine rows of nar
row green ribbon about the skirt; each
band finished its circle under a little
I flat cravat bow at the left sido of the
' front, A Russian Mouse jacket of the
way they come and go. Here," leading
the way to the room occupied by what
is known as the minor ooin division,
"you see th' way we handle them."
The part of the room which held the
money was protected by a railing of
heavy iron bars, and behind those
bars clerks wore busily at work. In
one corner, piled as high as tho men's
heads, were the canvas bags, each with
its 1,000 coins, just as they hud beet)
brought in. On the opposite aide three
clerks were busily counting off from a
great heap of loose pennies.
"Perhaps there are r.0.000,000 one-cent
pieces here now," continued the Su
perintendent, "possibly more. Tho
stock is growing now, has boon since
the beginning of the year. That Is to
say, there are more people who have
pennies which they want to exchange
for bills than there are who bring us
large denominations and get cents for
thorn. The pennies are as good as cal
endars for us.
"For several weeks before Christmas
wo didn't tako in many; the children
were saving thorn up to buy presents.
All those that passed into the hands
of the candy men, toy dealers and other
shop-keepers about Dec. 2~> are coming
back to us now. But they will go out
again by and by. Every fall when
school opens the pennies begin to come
in fast. Tho children are spending
more for candy and such things. Dur
ing the summer months they accumu
late on our hands, for then the young
sters are not spending so many. When
ever there is a storm, a spell of bad
weather, or anything that keeps the
penny-spending population at home, we
can see the difference in the numbers
that come to us.
"So there are many ways in which
we can trace the connection between
the children and the cents, and It may
interest the youngsters to know that
they have a great deal to do with the
circulation of this particular coin. Fer
haps the two things %vhioh have had
most to do with the great increase in
This Is the Way to Build Your Dog Kennel.
tbe circulation of pennies in recent
years are the slot-machines and the
bargain stores.
"The craze for 49-cent and 99-cent
bargains requires a great many pen
nies in the way of change, and, as I
have said, it is no unusual thing for
the big department stores to take $10,
--000 worth at a time. Most of these
come back to us by the way of the
slot-machines, Which have come to be
wonderful in number and variety.
"There are kinetescope views, phono
graphs, automatic music boxes, candy
and chewing-gum sailers, weighing ma
chines, lifting machines, and a hundred
and one others standing at every hand
and coaxing the pennies from their,
owners' pockets. The result of all this
has been that the Government has hard
work some of the time in maintaining
the supply and can't hardly make pen
nies fast enough to keep up with the
growth in the demand for them."
Copyright, 1898, by Bacheller Syndicate.
dress material was trimmed with green
also. The lady wore a dark blue hat,
trimmed with black and green.
A dress of reddish brown cloth was
covered with extremely narrow ruffles
to the waist line. Another dross of a
purplish slate color was finished at
bottom with an enormously deep fringe
of jet and 'black chenille. At tlie waist
was a glint of orange.
I do not remember that ln a walk of
an hour and a half, covering some of
the most fashionable streets in the
city, I saw more than three or four
skirts umtrimmed; these were tailor
gowns of severe model. Dresses that
have been made for February and
March wear In the South are ilounoed
and shirred and puffed and braided
without any of the reserve that in the
early winter feared too much lavishness
in such matters, as greatly as it feared
lack of ornamentT tion. The earliest
spring models that are being Imported
point to a far r.-.ore general and a
bolder use of draperies.
A dress for Asheville that was shown
to me yesterday was of pale reseda
faced cloth, hemmed with sable fur.
The upper skirt opened upon the foun
dation skirt in front, bands of applique
embroidery in dark green, reseda and
burnt orange outlining the opening.
The bodice had a blouse front of white
satin, covered with lace of a beautiful
design. The sides of the bodice and
the sleeves were embroidered in the col
ors of the skirt applique. From under
a high Medici collar of sable came long
scarf ends of burnt orange satin, fast
ening with steel ornaments. There was
a large black hat with dark green and
reseda feathers, and rosettes of
orange.
Another dress, prepared for a trip to
Florida, is of pale tan cloth. The skirt
has a wide flounce, headed by a wavy
ruffle and trimmed with very narrow
jet cords. The waist has a guimpe
neck of turquoise blue satin, covered
with lace and outlined with the narrow
jet trimming. Below the guimpe come
three circular frills of the tan cloth
and, below these, the waist in the mid
dle of the front only Is arranged to
pouch over the belt and is Jet trimmed.
BL.I/EN OS BORN.
Copyright, 1888, by Bache'ler Syndicate.,
MAKE A KENNEL
FOR YOUR DOG.
If You Foffow These Di
rections It is An
Easy Tasf;.
HALF DAY'S WORK.
A Few Boards, Some Naifs ant]
Paint, the Ontu Materi
als Needed.
iffsrt* are undoubtedly any number of
boys who have a dog hut no kennel to
keep him 3n. Almost any kind of ken
nel, people think, will do for a dog, so
long as it affords him a place to sl««p
In and protection from rain and cold.
If he gets a big dry goods box with a
hole in one end large enough for him
to go through, he Is better off than the
average of his race; but a kennel made
especially for his use is much better,
and it can easily be built in half a
day. The drawing shows such am af
fair, very neat in appearance, which
anybody can construct from a few
boards tongued and grooved
edges, j ■ ' ie-
Its size will depend, of course, on the
size of your dog; but for a canine of
medium size a box thirty-six inches
long, twenty-two inches wide, and
thirty-two inches high from the ground
to top of the roof peak, will give ample
room. If it is made larger or smaller,
the same relative proportions should bo
maintained.
First make the front and back with
peaked tops, then the side and bottom.
In the front cut the entrance hole, and
be sure to have it large enough; don't
force your dog to squeeze and scrape
every time he crawls in or out. This
opening should be marked with a com
pass and cut with a keyhole saw to ob
tain the curved line. Above it, in the
peak, bore four holes, and with the
same saw cv t away the wood between
them as shown in the picture, so as to
make a ventilator; for dogs as well as
other animals need pure air. The back
can be treated in a similar manner, so
that a circulation of air can be had.
Now nail the sides to the bottom, and
tlie front and back to the bottom and
sides. Between the two peaks nail a
strip of wood to form a ridge pole,
against which the upper ends of the
boards forming the roof are to be
nailed. Next put on the top, nailing
it securely to the ridge pole, the top
edges of the front and back, and also
to the upper edge of the sides. Under
the front and back nail a piece of joist
to raise the floor of the kennel from the
ground; when this is done look inside
and see that there are no nail ends vis
ible to tear the clog's skin or stick into
him when he lies down.
A staple with a chain, attached to
the end of which may be a snap, can
be driven in at one side of the front,
if It is desired to keep the dog fast
ened. If necessary, a door may be fit
ted to close the hole in the front at
Bight, so as to keep the dog warmer
in winter, but you must never forget to
open it in the morning, as it w-ould be
very disagreeable for a dog to be shut
in so small a place when he is awake.
If it is thought desirable to paint the
kennel, the nail holes should be puttied
up and the entire outside treated to
several successive coats; a light colored
paint is best.
Always place plenty of straw on tha
floor of a kennel to make a soft bed
for your dog; he will be more grateful
to you in his canine way than you hava
any Idea of. HARRY ADAMS.
Copyright, 1898, by Bacheller Syndicate.
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A museum of journals at Aix-la-
Ohapelle, Germany, founded In ISB6 by
M. Oscar Forkenbeck, is sold to con
tain 500,000 newspapers in all lan
guages. The founder devoted his whole
fortune for forty years to the acquisi
tion of rare" and curious specimens, and
to subscriptions to journals In all parts
of the world. He received and read
every day a considerable nuimlber of the
papers In thirty different languages.
Having started the museum with 10,000
full collections he addressed a circular
letter to the press of the globe asking
co-operation in his enterprise, and a
large number, of journals responded fa
vorably ■ • -~- ——..