| Show COCKERILLS LETTER Timely Matters Discussed by One on the Inside A MAN OF MUCH EOMAHCE How SOlO People Live Rich Widows in Demand WellPaid Lawyers S Other News For THE SUNDAY HEIIALD Coprrightedl The feebleminded Albany legislature 4 seems to have cut the jugular of David Bennett Hill in his person as a presidential S presiden-tial candidate and left him slightly demoralized S demor-alized by the wayside Perhaps Mr HiltS Hilt-S should not have been held responsible for S the conduct of the Democratic legislature but tho fact that he took such a lively personal per-sonal interest in securing a Democratic majority in both branches laid up against him now that his creation has turned out so badly This legislature with its Huckleberry 1 Huckle-berry bills and other fruits of vicious legislation legis-lation bus given the Democracy a severe I setback This is unfortunate from a party standpoint as Governor Flowers 50000 majority fast fall indicated that the Now 1 York Democracy was in good trim for the presidential campaign So far as Mr Cleveland is concerned the work of the Nev York legislature has been a godsend to his boom It has served to cast additional addi-tional odium upon the Snap convention of Mr Hill und in every way has worked to the advantage of Mrjpleveland I This goes show tuat Madame < Gcod Luck continues to walk by the side of Grover and protect him even when the storms of fate howl around him most pitilessly and threaten to blow him t Kingdom Come But as in Rhode Island and New Tersey the Democracy Dem-ocracy of New York Is not in satisfactory S condition and suggests the folly of taking a man from this stale to bo tho Democratic S standardbearer It will bo quite neces sary for tho Democratic candidate to carry I the state if ho would be elected ad I find no unbiased politicians in these pan who believe that either Hill or Cleveland can do it notwithstanding Mr Flowers big majority ma-jority That good western man whom we hear so much about should keep hisS his-S best foot forward and listen for the order to advance and take charge of the emoat tied Democratic hosts Still It looks like Cleveland and the good western man willS will-S probably have to wait another four years S Ho Is used to it and wont mind it much I hope especially i he happens to be Mr William Steele Holman or Bill Morrison orS or-S Springer or Palmer WELLPAID LAWYERS Senator Carlisles fee of 25000 which he is to receive in the PrestonBeal case dtcider in the court of appeals at Frankfort Frank-fort Ky the other day recalled to a New YorK lawyer some of the large fees that have been paid to attorneys From him I gathered these facts Judge Brown of S Memphis also in a Kentucky case received re-ceived a fee of 850000 This WES the case of J R Brown against Alexander Tinsley and w9 contested by the people of Muh lenbery county Ky to avoid the payment of county bonds to the amount of 400000 with accrued interest issued in 1SG9 in aid of the Eiizabethtown Paducah railroad company The whole amount involved in the suit was something over 51000000 Tho case in which Senator Carlisle won his big fee made the heirs of Robert Wickliffe richer to the extent of 220000 General Draper of Now Jersey is married to one of these heirs and it was as the representatives represen-tatives of Mrs Draper that Senator Carlisle Car-lisle came into the case and his fee comes entirely from her portion of the estate I am told that the Senator did not even make an exhaustive study of the case but made his argument at Frankfort from briefs filed by the attorneys for other heirs To do this required bis presence in Franklin five days and this is said to have been all the time he had to devote to tho case so that nis big earnings were as much per day as a member of Congress receives for a year of heavy Drain fag for his country coun-try and the old flag not counting perquisites perquis-ites But Senator Carlisle is not the only statesman who has made a goodsized fee in a law case The decision of the United States supreme court was handed down 4 something over a year ago in the Fiske will cane against the Cornell University In this case the university lost 1750000 and the law firm of Bacon 4S Hill is said to have received J400000 as their honorarium from the successful heirs The Mr Hill in this firm is none other than SENATOR DAVID BENNETT DILL now or until lately a candidate lor President Presi-dent Bacon instituted this suit eight or ton years ago when he was practicing law with Hill In Elmira and he used to say i he won the case he and his partner would have all the money they wanted for the rest of their lives His one ambition was to own a newspaper in New York and ho declared that it was his intention when he got the own a newspaper news-paper in New York As MrBacon has not appeared bore upon the journalistic scene and as It is under tdod that his law firm has received tie big fee the presumuption is that he has changed his mind in regard to the newspaper news-paper The fee which John E Parsons the New York lawyer received for organizing organ-izing the sugar trust is believed to bo the largest ever paid to ono New York attorney attor-ney The amount was 400000 tho same sum received by Messrs Hill and Bacon in the Fiske case And yet notwithstanding this largo fee it did not take the courts I long once they pot at it to destroy the apparently S ap-parently invincible legal structure ap the able and highpriced lawyer had reared Mr Parsons is getting along well in years but he continues to retain his close resem S A lk blanco to Ralph Waldo Emerson He appears ap-pears but rarely in the counts but always in connection with some big corporation case The smashing of the sugar trust in tie courts and tho voluntary dissolution of the Standard Oil trust will no doubt have a depressing influence upon the expensive legal business of organizing trusts A very snug fee was claimed by oxJudge George M Curtis and Georgo S Hastings for thoir services in the contest over tim will of Malby G Lane which occupied the attention atten-tion of the public some months ago The contest was settled by a compromise with the heirs and the will set aside MrsLane signed a contract which was filed in court agreeing to pay Judge Curtis and Mr Hastings 26000 for their services Two of the children of Mr Lane contested this and a compromise was effected A MAN OF MUCH ROMANCE The announcement made the other day that Mr Timothy Hopkins had resigned the treasurership of the Southern Pacific I Railroad company calls renewed attention to the marvelous romance of this man who I cut something of a figure in these parts last autumn IUd retirement from tho railway service I observe was marked by a great act of benevolence on his part He presented the Stanford University of II California with 1000 volumes and 1000 pamphlets composed entirely of railroad literary reports collected from various states It probably cost Mr Hopkins about 8 cents personally and would be worth to I the Stanford University just whatever the market price of paper junk happens to bo in Uallfornia at this time Still it shows I that Mr Hopkins on whom fortune has smiled and winked so graciously is disposed dis-posed to give away something and now I that be has taken his place among the millionaires lionaires of the country there is a hope that he may yet furnish a corner stone for a church By his recent settlement with the Searles estate Mr Hopkins came into possession pos-session of 53000000 This taken in connection con-nection with the milliondollar estate given I him by his fostermother before her death i makes him a very rich man As his instincts I in-stincts are of a penurious character the probabilities are that he will never be I worth any less money unless overtaken by some distrustful stroke For these 4000 I I 000 it may be said that Mr Hopkins practically The practi-cally only never rendered a particle of service LABOR INVOLVED was the changing of his name from Timothy Tim-othy Nolan to Timothy Hopkins Certainly Cer-tainly Mr Richard Whittineton of the famous catcould not point to a more remarkable re-markable career than that which has fallen I i unto Mr Hopkins Picked up from beside I the washtub of his mother by the kindhearted kind-hearted wife of old Mark Hopkins ho be came in lime her adopted eon and though spoiled as a railroad brakeman and educated to be something of a gentleman he manages man-ages to secure a very fine slice of old Hopkins Hop-kins estate by maligning and traducing the memory of his benefactors It is said that he is a shrewd financier that I can readily believe and that his talent is in the direction direc-tion of economics I is related that while treasurer of the Southern Pacific Railway company he instituted one reform alone I which saved several thousands of dollars a I year to the company Ho found that the I correspondence of the company was being 1 conducted in all of its branches on Irish linen paper He introduced a fair article I of manilla paper into the service and this I saved tho corporation at least 73000 per annum an-num As the Hopkins estate was largely interested in tho Southern Pacific railway it may be said that this was about the greatest service he rendered It for the t 54000000 which have fallen to him like I manna out of the skies I Mr Hopkins tastes were political we might expect to I hear of him turning up as a United States Senator one of these days I am told however how-ever that ho cares nothing about politics and is chiefly devoted to his flower garden at Menlo Park nOW SOME PEOPLE LIVE Wo aro always hearing about the queer modes of earning a livelihood which are encountered in this wonderful city I saw in one of the newspapers tho other day a statement that certain young men are now picking up daily broad by exercising the pet dogs of the fashionable women of the city When the weather is not propitious for promenading the women who own and cherish dogs are not able to perform that interesting function of exercising their pets For a weekly stipend these young men known as dog exercisers call at the houses of their customers and take their dogs out for what might be termed a canine ca-nine constitutional These young men are necessarily of high character and known probity and in course of time they will become valuable dog fanciers and dealers But the people who hare tho queerest and most devious ways of picking up a living are the hustling women Lady agents are a thing of the past The disinclination disin-clination of woman to engage in any business busi-ness which smacks of the agent feature is so well recognized that such houses as Appletons Harper Bros eto havo ceased advertising for agents to canvass for their works of art and resort to innocently worded ads which catch even the most wary Then a personal interview with a suave and persuasive manner follows and my lady who would not for worlds become an agent is engaged as a special representative represen-tative and her conscience is thus appeased It is wonderful how many women and high up in the social swim too ara engaged in booming this that or the other thing The booming is generally done in THEIR OWN IMMEDIATE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS The method pursued is identical with that of the society man who only orders a certain cer-tain brand of wine in a low voice dont yer know because it is the only fit wino on the market and carries the corks away in his pocket as vouchers for money spent Your friend calls on you and in a burst of confidence Imparts the informatioathat she has just quite by accident you know run across the most wonderful and dainty toilet cream and if you wish a jar why Ill order it sent to you my dear Of course you order tho cream becauso you really appreciate ap-preciate so much unselfishness and the commission is pocketed by your friend You lost nothing however for there is all the trouble of shopping saved and you pay no more for the goods Really the secret boomer is worthy of her wage for it requires re-quires tact and she is so goodnatured with it all Another pretty little subterfuge is of certain article to speak a by lottle as Oh by the way I had almost forgotten to tell you Helen dear I found tho cutest and cunningest something or other and so cheap too Just what you have been I looking for The cost is a trifle only hero she inserts 1 or 10 as the case may be Shall I send you one dear Of course dear says yes The commission business is carried to greater extremes in NEw York I than in any city in the world Tho hotel clerk who recommends you to a hatter steps around and collects his little percentage percent-age Every customer sent to a minor a hairdresser a haberdasher bricabrac dealer or milliner is worth so much to somebody and the man who is instrumental in placing an advertisement 0 newspaper invariably presents his picayune claim There is not a business in tue city however how-ever inconsequential which does not have its parasite VANTEDA RICH WIDOW I will perhaps bo remembered that in this letter some time ago I devoted a bit of space to the wealthy widows of the country These facts were gathered at considerable pains and I am pleased to know that they have not been wholly wasted I received the other day a letter from Mr J H French a partner in a firm at North Topeka Kan dealing in hardware hard-ware tinware stoves wagons agricultural implements etc In this letter Mr French expresses a desire to secure as a wife and helpmeet a widow of some fortune and assuming that I was an expert in these matters sent me his rather quaint appeal As his letter may interest some of the rich widows of the country I feel justified in giving it to the public My personal knowledge knowl-edge of rich widows is somewhat limited Here is Mr Frenchs letter DEAR SmI see an article written by you about rich widows I am a widower ol lorty six years and want a number one widow about thirty or thirtylive years old for a wife I am a homo man and like to make home pleasant for a wife I am no pauper Have two children boy of eight years and girl of fourteen years I want a wife and a mother for them One who can play and sing and knows how to take care of a home and yet she must be worth some money say not less than 100000 in actual money 1 can and will give her a nice happy home and a Christian home I can give as good reference as thero is in this state I have held place of representative and stand on an equal with tho best of men here also In my business Find me please such a woman as I have asked for and put me on tho right way to get acquainted ac-quainted and will bo under great obligation to you I mean business in a businesslike manner man-ner I would assist you under like circumstances circum-stances Please find stamp and envelope and please write me as I want a happy homo once more Yours J H FRENCH I trust that this will fall under the eye of some kind widow possessed of at least 100000 who is searching for a happy Christian home in the western section of the Union When aman says he will assist me under like circumstances ho can depend upon my doing my very best for him I Mr French does not secure a helpmeet Frenc dtes througn tnis oroaacast advertisement it will bo because the wl probably demand for 100000 widows is somewhat in excess of the supply THE OHIO MAN TO THE FRONT The dinner given by the Ohio society to Mr Whitelaw Reid our late minister to i France was a charming affair I brought together some of the brightest and most alert minds in the country Mr Reid certainly cer-tainly had reason to feel highly complimented mented as the dinner was in every sense a marked event The Ohio society which by the way is becoming a social power this city was never better represented than at this dinner We have all board a great deal about the potentially of Ohio and the way in which it has impressed itself upon public affairs since the beginning of the civil war The fact was brought out at this dinner the other night that not only is the President of the United States an Ohio man but four members of his cabinet Messrs Foster Elkins Noble and Rusk bad the honor to bo born in that radiant and assertive state Mr Halstead commenting com-menting upon this dinner says he was very much struck by the pleasant intercourse which took place between Mr George W Chllds of Philadelphia and Mr Charles A Dana They sat side by Dido at the table and their geniality diffused a pleasant pleas-ant glow over the entire dining bal The fact that Mr Dana had for many years guyed and poked fun at tho noblehearted editor of the Ledger seemed in the estimation estima-tion of the company present to cal for alto a-lto coolness When this was not manifested mani-fested an impression prevailed that the MILLENNIUM HAD ARRIVED As a matter of fact Mr Dana is ono of the most genial men at the dinner table I ever met Although seventythree years of age his mind is as acute as that of a boy of twenty and he has a way of saying things which suggests a sweetness of temper almost al-most feminine Ho does not seem to bear malace against those who have reviled him and he does not allow any of tho amenities of the dining room to interfere with his pastime of flaying people who happen to cross his orbit In other words his dinner geniality seems to be as evanescent as the champagne A few years ago 1 sat by his side at a dinner given in Boston to Colonel Taylor of tho Globe Notwithstanding tho hostility which had been engendered between be-tween the Sun and the World Mr Dana was almost latneriy in nis tenderness tome to-me that evening Ho chatted pleasantly about pretty much everything and everybody every-body The impression left upon my mind was that Mr Dana was ono of the sweetest and least understood men in the journalistic journal-istic profession Ever regarding him as a pirate I shifted around before the evening was over to a point where I could almost amost contemplate him as my Uncle Toby We parted the loveliest of friends A few days afterward he wrote and published in the Sun a most malicious and unprovoked attack at-tack upon me I have been watching the Sun every day since the Reid dinner to see how completely the venerable ogre will layout lay-out Mr Childs with his editorial bludgeon just by way of emphasizing his independence independ-ence THE DAT OF CHAOS The approach of the 1st of May means as much seriousness for the city of New York as the proposed uprising of the Anarchists in tho chief cities of Europe It is our moving day For some reason altogether inscrutable it seems to me landlords and house owners of this city insist on terminating termin-ating all leases on the last day of April I is impossible at any time of tho yearto rent an apartment or a house for a period beyond be-yond tho following 1st of May This starts everybody to moving on the same day and chaos is the result Not only this the demand de-mand for trucks and moving vans is so great that prices are fixed to suit the owners own-ers of the same A truckman who has beon an obsequious and intelligent canvasser for j 0 > business during eleven months of the year becomes an indolent and independent creature crea-ture as the day of his exaltation approaches For at least five days in the year he is pretty much monarch of all he can survey And a wagon and horse worth as a total 5100 pay the best interest on investment of anything in this countrynot even excepting except-ing the Standard Oil trust To avoid extortion ex-tortion and torton THE RUSH INCIDENT TO THE FIRST OF MAT most of the wellconditioned peoplo who havo moving vans and trucks bearing household goods which look the worse for sunlight exposure It is natural in this connection to recall the story of Bill Nye used to t l about his attempt to movo in this city on May day He loaded all his movables into one large wagonsurmounted the same with his children and drovo down to his new apartment When he got there he found that the wife of tho tenant being seriously ill it had been thought wise not to move that day and consequently there was no vacancy for him He drove his effects back to his former establishment but the new lessee had moved in with all of his traps and the Nye family was left on the outside between the devil and the deep sea as it were With the natural resources of the western man Mr Nye solved the problem going down to Union I square and camping for the night The story of his pitching his tepeo near the fountain and making a pot of coffee over an aboriginal camp lire was certainly very amusing if not entirely voracious It at least depicted in a general and jocund way some of the horrors of moving day in New York city cityA A FIN DE SIECLE FUNCTION One of the most interesting developments is the publicfunction called a dinner I Lieutenant Tottens predictions should hit the mark of which there is not moro than one chance in half a million since every mothers son of us Is a prophet and the son of a prophet the end of this century will be the end of the world and fin do siecle Civilization is indeed the very acme of everything sublunary There is no feature of social life at the close of the nineteenth century the most notable by far in the record of civilization so marked as the use of a dinner as a means 6f transacting business busi-ness public and private I Dickens Society for the Purpose of Purveying Red Flannel Waistcoats for the Hottentots or words to that effect were to spring into existence ex-istence now in New York Its overt act would be in all probability a reunion around tho damask and roses with someone some-one of our score of trained afterdinner orators to speak when the cigars came In The latest example of it I believe is the organization of the City club for the purpose pur-pose of reforming New York and making it a place better worth living in which has just met and andD RD IN SQUADS I this time on account of numbers and then reconvened its dinner conventions at Sherrys Truly reform is in the air and people who are compelled to dine on air must think it a good deal of a farce Tho 300 City club men who assembled might easily have gone without their dinners and the SCOO at a low estimate thus saved for I the cause of reform would have purchased ample food at the cheap coffee stands for no less than 6000 starving New Yorkers Are there that many in need of food and unable to get any at dinner time of an average eveningl Well the estimate is meagre to a degree But there is unfortunately unfor-tunately no reason in the existing condition condi-tion of affairs to believe that hunger and poverty will ever be abolished Henry George himself the very apostle of the movement for the abolition of poverty only received 200 or 300 out of a 5000 bequest be-quest left him by a New Jersey admirer not long since for the express purpose of aiding in the abolition of poverty and so ineffectual are our poor human instruments instru-ments that nearly all of the legacy was abolished in transit before it reached Mr Georges hands 3IULDOON TRAINING ELAINE The story has recently been telegraphed from Washington without public denial that Secretary Blame has consulted William Will-iam Muldoon the professional trainer who once put John L Sullivan into shape about a course of physical instruction with the object presumably of fitting himself for the presidential race and getting his digestive diges-tive organs into condition for his favorite corn bread and buttermilk feasts Muldoon is one of three trainers whose names have I for years been kept prominently before the New York public and incidentally the reading public at large J M Laflin is another an-other and Edwin Checkloy the third The two former are great big men sixfooters and more the latter a little wiry fellow not onethird as big as either of the others Each of the three has a system and from what I can gleanfor half the men about town have been or are talking of being under un-der training the three systems are about as follows Muldoon believes in taking his subjectsi off to a farm or of 0 some other secluded place and there working them like horses from 7 in the morning until 8 in the evening with regular trainers DIET OF UNDERDONE BEEF AND MUTTON little if any vegetables or sweets and work work work all day with Intervals for judicious rest This work may be walking walk-ing or running or plowing or sawing wood which would be eminently appropriate for a diplomat or punching bog or sparring or wrestling But it is work Of course Mr Muldoon who is an intelligent and pleasantspoken man would invent a now system entirely should the secretary of state conclude to go under his tutelage The other system seems to include an element ele-ment of amusement and while Laflin believes be-lieves in rowing and fishing and horseback riding as well as sparring and swimming Checkley declares that work is wholly unnecessary un-necessary and that themind may so direct and exorcise tho muscles without such auxiliaries as Indian clubs bags dumbbells dumb-bells and the lke that the desired results of lung development and fast reduction can be produced without a lick of work COlonel Bob Tngersoll holds to tho belief that a man who works his intellect strenuously has no need of physical exercise It Is his belie that mental work develops the muscles He has adhered to this theory through life prospered and he has lived long and has likewise LANGTRTS EMPTT lOUSE Two sign boards hang on Mrs Lan trys house in West Twentythird street near I Ninth avenue imploring the passersby trent t-rent that famous edifice But the passerby passer-by continues to puss by and does not rent although these signs have hung thee rent belt f a lt > h S S 5 5 ging for six months or moro that something be done How many months more they will hang there with tears In their eyes as we may say no one can guess Neither can any one guess why the Lilys residence is so difficult to rent at least no ono does The house is a threestory red brick standing back from the street with high walls on either side to obstruct the view of the too curious and slightly impertinent neighbors This improvement was made after Mrs Langtry bought the house and had been occupying it herself There is a carriageway with an arched entrance atone at-one side of the house and in many respects it has the appearance of comfortable Eng Ish homestead And yet not even those who affect the English and we have a great many of them hero are disposed to humor their fad by taking the Langtry house The decorations of the rooms which wore done under Mrs Langtrys personal supervision are beautiful and expensive and to testify to her excellent taste in dec oratjo art which has I think reached a higher degree of perfection than either her taste or ability in the matter of historic art But that is not tho point The Lily has an expensive house in town that is a white I elephant on her fair hands because two i pleading sign boards fail to find her a tenant I ten-ant for It A DISPERSION OE TALENT The transfer of Mr John C Reid of his editorial services from tho World to the New Haven Palladium and of Mr Julius Chambers of his from the samo journal to Once a 1Fce7f mark the disbanding of one of the most interesting groups of journalistic talent it has been any ones fortune to observe ob-serve beneath one roof At one time recently tme cently in the towering hencoop which crowns his ecru building by the bridge Mr Pulitzer had daily assembled and falling over each others heels no less than five exmanaging editors of important newspapers news-papers each drawing a salary and wondering wonder-ing how to earn it There were Mr Reid long managing editor edi-tor of the Now York Times Mr Chambers long steersman of the Herald Mr John Foord exmanaging editor of the New York Times and Harpers Weekly Major George F Williams exmanaging editor of the New York Herald and Mr Eustaco Ballard Smith then an exmanaging editor of the World and the Herald Such a galaxy of talent could not hold its place in the journalistic heavens andin the very nature of things fell to pieces by its own gravity Mr Reid and Mr Chambers both men of long experience and high ability have now journals of their own to control Mr John Foord has just been appointodby Governor Flower secretary to the board of general managers of New Yorks state exhibit at the Worlds Columbian Exposition Major Williams sought a more congenial field some time sinco with another New York newspaper THE NEW JERSEY STRAW I seems to me there is more than a local significance in the result of the recent election elec-tion in Jersey City Ordinarily Jersey City goes Democratic by a large majority but this time a Republican mayor is elected by over 3000 It is true that this is a ring ridden town and the people were getting ready to revolt against the rule of Boss McDermott who was tho Democratic candidate can-didate for mayor but the real reason for the revolution seems to me to be beyond that Governor Abbott and the late Demo cratic legislature had much to do with It The legislation in the interest of tho racetrack race-track gamblers of the worst sort and tho bill > legalizing the dangerous coal combina tons with a few other bills against public interest and public decency had moro to do with tho turning down of the party in the chief city of tho state than any purely local Issue Governor Abbott was elected by over 14000 majority and Grover Cleveland carried the state in 1SSS by over 7000 but I do not believe that either of them could carry the state today Even E Uurd Grubb who was given the Spanish mission by President Harrison as a consolation prize > for having been defeated for governor two years ago could probably carry the state now and there are not many weaker sisters in the party than Grubb This is not very cheering Democratic news butt but-t seems to mo to honestly represent tho situation JOHN A COCKERILL TOWARD THE ORIENT Pass and Baggage Revision Without With-out End THE GREAT ROSE OIL CULTURE I I I Sllvrltza the Capital of Prince Ferdinand Modest Beginnings of What Mar Become 0 Great Government As soon as one leaves AustroHungary to enter the Balkan peninsula a plague seizes upon him in the shape of innumerable officers cers in uniform or in civilian dress some armed with sabres and revolvers and others without weapons Pass revision or baggage revision is their mission in different differ-ent languages I was advised not to travel on the Balkan without a passport so the necessary credentials were furnished me by Colonel Fred Grant the American em bassador in Vienna then they were revised by the Turkish embassador there Upon entering Belgrade the passport was first examined by the Servian officers while the train was held until that was done and the baggage revised It does not take long to pass through the kingdom of Servia and on entering Bulgaria another revision of passports pass-ports and baggage takes place Wo passed through Servia at night and on the following follow-ing morning wo found ourselves in Bulgaria Bul-garia Weexpected on going so far south to find warm weather but the country was covered with snow yet the scenery was very picturesque showing that it must bo very beautiful the summer The train ran through a long valley toward the Balkan mountains and we expected to reach Sofia the capital of Bulgaria by noon but near Slivnitza we came very EAR MEETING WITH AN ACCIDENT i as bad as the one that befell the Servians I when on the same spot Alexander von Battenburp gave them battle and sent them home in 0 rout About 1 oclock we reached Slivnitza where our train stopped over half an hour before wo thought it necessary nec-essary to make investigations You may think we were in pleasant company not to notice such delay in an express train and so we were for there were Hungarians II Turks English French Germans and I Americans talking in their respective languages lan-guages yet all understanding German enough to comprehend each other Upon investigating the cause of our delay we found that ahead of us the read had been washed away The washout was about thirty feet deep and one hundred feet long A number of Bulgarian laborers were busy in erecting a temporary suppurt from heavy logs so that the train might cross over A BULGARIAN is a peculiar looking specimen of mankind Ho is tall and lean with a long nose and dark complexion He i dressed in dirty white pantaloons that begin to part from the knee down the uppers forming 0 kind of loose skirt but from the knee down they fit the Jog very closely and colored socks cover the feet and are drawn over the pantaloons as far as they go Over these he wears sandals which are tied to the feet with straps His coat is made oC sheep skin a also often are the pantaloons panta-loons The coat only reaches to the waist and is very full MK in front The shirt is open cut so low as to leave the neck and chest bare Around the waist ho wears a wide colored sash and a cap on his head From a short distance dis-tance it is very difficult to distinguish a woman from a man At last we were informed that it was not possible for our train to cross over the washout and that a train bad been telegraphed tele-graphed to meet us which was then stand lug on the opposite side We began to prepare to walk over and were carefully I studying how to keep from fall ing down the steep embankment when we were told to remain in the train as it was thought cafe to push the cars over Now began an interesting time Many insisted on walking over which they did among them an Englishman who was never afraid but always thought it best to be careful One lady went into a coupe pulled down the curtains shut the door and her eyes and began to cry while others watched the train safely moving over the deep gulch We reached Sofia at 4 in the afternoon We got out of the train but before we could leave the depot we had to go through another revision of passports pass-ports and still another before we were allowed al-lowed to register in the hotel Suppose we had lost our passport WHAT WOULD lAVE BECOME OF us1 We could not have gone back as the Ser ians would not have admitted us to their country and we could not have proceeded as tho Turks would not have shown us anymore any-more consideration Wo could not have remained in Bulgaria either because no hotol would have given us shelter without a passport In a case like this of course one has to rely on the American consul for protection but that is a tedious process nod may detain one many days until a passport pass-port can be sent to him OLD TURKISH SOPHIA Is gradually disappearing and in its place a new city is being erected as the capital of independent Bulgaria Tire residence of Prince Ferdinand is a modest modern building build-ing surrounded by a high wall and covering cover-ing with its grounds a whole square The entrances are well guarded by sentinels Around the vicinity of tbd castle ara a number of very pretty residences some of them occupied by the consuls of the different differ-ent governments The public buildings are new and nicoly put up as also are the now business blocks which are rapidly being erected The streets are not paved and sidewalks are laid only on streets surrounding sur-rounding the castle Sofia is what Americans Ameri-cans would call a booming town and prices are accordingly Tbo appearance of it shows what the Bulgarians have gained in their independence Yet while in the vicinity of the castle thero is a modern air the greater part of the city still preserves Its oriental ap 5 1 pear > nco its dirty streets crowded with dirty and ragged looking people ho buildings half in ruins The parliament parlia-ment of Bulgaria being the youngest in Europe naturally attracted our attention The small room in the sobranje was quite pretty but very simple Adjoining it is a library consisting of very few books What a small beginning to what may some time be a powerful nation Altogether Sofia is not a place where 1 person would much desire to live and we did not envy the prince who in his solitude suffers the constant fear of assassination A DANCE AND A WEDDING As our train pulled out of Sofia two things attracted our attention One was a dance in the open air in which men and women took part the other was a Bulgarian Bul-garian wedding About 0 dozen men walked in front of a lumbersome wagon carrying flags in their hands The bnao and groom were seated in the wagon with tho women of the party They all seemed to be dressed alike save that tat the bride had a wreath in her hair Ono thing sure is that no expensive trousseau was prepared for this bride Most all of the Bulgarian young women wear their bait in a braid hanging down their backs while 0 loose net is drawn over their head From Sofia the train continued through the Balkan mountains but they looked more cheerful than those we bad left tho day before where the snowcevered crncra rave us an idea of the terrible sufferings that the soldiers in the late TurkishRus sian war must have endured as they were driven against each other Here the weather i mild and the snow has all disappeared dis-appeared fay the time wo reach Philopople The country is fiat and thinly settled and many herds of sheep are pasturing in tho fields Going down the Maritza river wo reached Adrianople at night the center of THE OKEAT ROSE OIL CULTURE This perfume is madein three qualities The first and best requires sixty pounds of roses to make a few drops but the oil is so hard that it has to be heated ia order to pour it from one flask in to another The second is still rigid but the third is more of a liquid at the average temperature tempera-ture Tne oil is bottled and sealed and a few drops will scent ones clothes for three or four years before It evaporates and even then it still holds its perfume for twenty and more years It is sold in Adrianopla for 150 a dram for the best quality Oil our way we passed a few villages with low square houses and very high roof with all kinds of wicker work made of straw to protect them from the cola The chimneys wore conspicuous through their absence and windows could not always al-ways be found out CROSSING INTO TCRKET wo went through another pass revision and before we could enter through the gates into Constantinople we were once more kept standing until a Lurk on one side and an Abyssinian on tho other examined again our passports and allowed al-lowed us to enter the oriental city Before entering Constantinople the train runs along the Bosphorus a beautiful body of wafer and looking across we can plainly discern Asia We next pass by the old Roman walls that gird the old city and along the meanest filthiest broken down houses with window panes mashed in and dirty dogs and dirtier people peo-ple moving in the street and wo wonder if this can be Constantinople The depot however is a very roomy and respectable looking building perfectly modern VEHONA E POLLOCK CONSTANTINOPLE Feb 1919J |
