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Show THE WORLD. AMERICAN FORK, UTAH, SATURDAY. MARCH 12, VOL. V A FAMOUS BUILDING. ONCE THE UNITED STATES ECUTIVE MANSION. EX- Trfity of Trent. Birthplace General Wnahlnctou Aaal.ted In It. Erection frNld.nl Mndlaun Occupied It When V the White lluuee Burned. Washington Letter to Philadelphia Timet: One of the most interesting houses In the city of Washington is that which stands on the corner of New York avenue and Eighteenth street, commonly known as the Octagon house." It is interesting on account of the fact that it was once used as the executive mansion. In 1798, Colonel John Tayloe, whose reputation seems to have been based largely on the fact of his being the richest man in Virginia, decided to build a home for himself and family In the city of Philadelphia, but owing to the persuasions of General Washington, changed his mind and built Instead the Octagon house, In what was considered in those days a very out of the way portion of the city. General Washington assisted in making the plans and took the keenest interest in its erection. Colonel Tayloe entertained what was known as the unofficial set, which comprised some of the first families of Washington, but It was not until the burning of the white house in 1814 that it became a political center. Then It was that he removed his family to one of his Virginia plantations and offered to rent the house to President Madison, which offer was accepted. Although unoccupied for years, it stands today almost the same as it stood in the days when men and women of fashion thronged its rooms. On ascending a flight of stone steps and entering the broad doorway, one finds himself in a hall almost circular In shape; the marble tiling which once formed the floor Is now superseded by pine boards; two stoves of antique pat- tern front each other from niches in Beyond is another opposite walls. hall, from which opens on the right the ball room where Dolly Madison held some of her famous receptions. Aside from the height of the ceilings and the else of the room there Is nothing left to remind one of its ancient splendor the house it will necessitate the selling PARIS AN IMPRECN ABLE CITY of the property, but if It is found by any one else all will be well. Efforts Its FortlBrallons Have Heea Ceaalder have been made to find the missing ably Improved Sluoe Gerniaa Wav vault, yet its whereabouts remains a (From the Boston Herald.) mystery. The watchman, who has' Hie action of the French parliament lived there for seven years, claims.how-eve- r, in deciding to tear down some of the that he has never yet heard a fortifications near Paris and sell for sound which could be attributed to the ordinary uses the land now occupied supernatural. Nevertheless, there la by these defensive works must not be one story which has the semblance of taken aa an Indication that. In the truth. While the Tayloes were occupyopinion of the French people, we are ing the house the doorbell rang one aoon to enter upon an era of peace. it day, but the maid on answering The fortifications the demolition of could see no one. Again it rang, and is which contemplated by the order himself went; colonel this time the old but there was no one there. Finally passed are those which are quite close all the bells in the house started ring- to Paris and which played a prominent In the defense of the city at the ing and nothing could stop them. They part continued ringing until the Tayloe fam- tlmo it was besieged by the German n years ago. But the ily took their departure. The local pa- army twenty-seveFrench bean have at time the the noted taught wisdom by phenomenon pers past experience and aa a result have of its occurrence. planned and a few yeirs ago finished a system of fortifications around Paris MISSION METHODS CHANCING. which are probably unequaled for the a New Step Reformed Church Takes with a Domestic Field Secretary. Changes in missionary methods are now being considered many by churches. One of the active missionary denominations is the Reformed church in America, for, although small in numbers and confined to the Atlantic seaboard. It has long carried on extensive mission work, for the Dutch, both in Holland and America, are liberal givers In church causes. Beginning with the current year Rev. William Walton Clark fills a new office of field secretary to the board of domestic missions. The new secretary is well known in connection with mission labor. He announces that he will spend his first year among the churches in the east, but may reach some of the Pacific coast churches late In the autumn. The purpose of the appointment is to keep the churches Informed on the subject of missions. The day of the missionary periodical is gone by, it is said, for people will no longer read An eloquent voice and earnest heart are needed to go to the churches and ' their members and tell them how mission work progresses. In no other way can mission funds be kept up. Others besides the Reformed church are learning the lesson, and a few have acted up on it, notably the Evangelical association, and, to a limited degree, the Baptists. Episcopalians are debating about it ONCE THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. purposes for which they are intended by any similar fortifications In the world. A well informed military writer, a member of tbe general staff of the German army, has given it as his opinion that a successful siege of Paris would be, under present conditions, sn lmpoeslble undertaking. The new fortifications that surround the French capital are some fifteen or twenty miles from the city and are connected with Paris and with each other by a railway system which would enable the French commander to quickly mass at one point a very large body of men, while the general of the besieging army, if he wished to prevent the city from obtaining auppliea and thus shut in the people and the army that was defending it, would have to occupy a line extending over 100 miles and hence could not by any possibility collect a large number of hia force at any one point to resist an attack of the enemy. It required a German army of, approximately, 500,000 men to lay. siege to Paris from Sept. 19, 1870, to Jan. SO 1871 but the authority we refer to Is of the opinion that to repeat the same operation a German besieging army would have to number more than 2,000,000 men, and the work of maintaining such a force and properly handling Its parti would be1 something which few governments would care to undertake, and few military command-er- a would be able to efficiently perform. Besides, these great .outlying fortifications would give to the people of Paris, If their city was again besieged, an opportunity to obtain many of the smaller supplies of life from the suburban district, since as the system of fortification has been built It would be aa though the line of defense for Boston took a circuit wblch extended from Marshfield through Brockton, Walpole, Framingham, Concord, Andover and reached tbe water again at Gloucester. If the tide of war was kept thus far back from our city It la easy to see that we should not suffer as Intensely as If It were carried on almost within our municipal area. The French have spent upon these new fortifications an amount variously estimated at from $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 and hence can well afford to sell the land occupied by some of the now obsolete fortifications of a generation ago. except a mantel piece of reputed value, some one having at one time offered It Is beauti$560 for its possession. was In and Iron probably fully wrought Imported. Directly opposite the ball room Is the dining room, where numberless guests have been entertained, while over the circular hall is a small room, also circular In shape, which was used by President Madison as an office. Here it was that the treaty of Ghent was signed. At the rear of the mansion is the garden, surrounded by a wall some ten or twelve feet high in height, parts of which are now in a tumble-dow- n condition. It is recorded that in this garden may still be found traces of what were known as nigger auction blocks, for Colonel Tayloe was a large slave owner, having had five hunA Good Idea. dred in his possession at one time. For a dandy wheel you Barrow That's years past the house has had an un- have there, old man. Ill take a little canny reputation, on account of the spin on it some day. By the way.what numerous ghost stories which are in kind of a wheel do to you think I circulation concerning He strange ride?" Marrow One of yourought own." One sounds heard within its walls. of the stories afloat is that old Colonel Tayloe sealed within his cellar a creole A Real Need. woman and left her there to die. Her "Do you know a good tonic for nerskeleton is said to be still entombed, vous persons, Simpkins?" No; what and the supposed screams of the womIs Hud want a to tonic I for who Another heard. be people story an may yet with them." Boston is that If s" rember of the Tayloe have to i certain vault in family sh -Pic- k-Me-Up. " ie IN COLORADO CANON. -- - aeq-Ieve- I ut Ilrldal Custom In llrlttuny. Conspicuous among the adornments of tbe bridal feast In Brittany is an artistic and elaborate butter ctructure as fanciful and elegant as the most beautiful bridal rake and Into this structure the gvesta stick split sticks bearing coins cf poM or silver. they eame to the canyon of tha Baa, Juan where the water flowed from', bank to bank. They made a raft ot is driftwood, which they found lodged the greatest gorge In the cleft of the rocks, using their 1 e ropes to fasten the logs. They had to lta world. A writer abandon the donkey, but they loaded all their food and arma, not forgetting thus describes ft It is abruptly the gold dust, on tha raft A more desperate situation It would countersunk In tbe men OLORADO canon forest plateau, so be difficult to imagine. Here these that you aee no- - were, at the bottom of a great canyon, a trackless waste, and thing of It until flowing through a at that time unexregion through you are suddenly but known even to little and on Its plored, stopped of tha but tbelr this Ignorance day, brink, with Its Immeasurable wealth of situation and them hope. gave strength divinely colored and sculptured buildThe raft drifted down with the curNo and before beneath you. you ings on matter how far you may have wan- rent, the black walla rising higheras if seemed it at either last till hand, dered hitherto, or how many famous far-otops were coming together gorges and valleys you have seen, this the must fall In and crush them; They and one, the Grand Canon of the Colorado, four days had passed,' on till kept seem will as novel to you, as unearthly waa swept Into a deeper raft when the in the color and grandeur and quantity chasm. vaster This was the canand of lta architecture, aa If you bad found Colorado. Great of the It after death on some other star; so yon Two more days and nights passed, incomparably lovely and grand and suthe smooth current became when preme is it above all the other delightwitter, and they aaw the white foam earthquakful canoua In our of raplda ahead. e-shaken, who had been guiding the Strole, river and with a pole, stood up against tbe world. It la about 6,000 feet deep where raft of his companion. The ropes advice you first see it, and from rim to rim The raft spread out like a parted. ten to fifteen miles wide. And instead waa clinging to the who fan. White, of being dependent for Interest on awful an beard logs, cry, and looking waterfalls, depth, wall sculpture and he saw the of cloud the apray, through floor, like most beauty of park-lik- e out of sight lu German sinking no waterfalls are young other . p ff d, raln-wasbe- wave-washe- d, d, glacier-sculptur- ed great canyons in sight, and no appreciable floor space. Hie big river bas Just room enough to flow and roar obscurely, here and there groping lta way aa best it can like a weary, murmuring, overladen traveler trying to escape from the tremendous bewildering labyrinth-l- e abyss, while its roar serves only to mellow and deepen the silence. Instead of being filled only with air, the vast space between tbe walla la crowded with nature's grandest buildings a ubllme city of them, painted in every color of the rainbow and adorned with richly fretted cornice and battlement spire and tower In endless variety of tyle and architecture. Every architectural invention of man haa been an- - I ' l, Philippine Islands. These pearls. Ilka those of the ocean, are composed of carbonate of lime. The bamboo also yields another precious product. In the shape of true opals, which are found In Its joints. y, Iff llvW A Gigantic Lightning Conductor. In a recent description of the astro acting upon the lesson, but as yet do comical observatory on Mount Etna, not show that they have learned It attention la called to the fact that sufficiently well to act upon it. There thunderstorms are very rare phenomis a crisis In missions. Perhaps this ena there.- The observatory ia more is the something that must be done to than 9,000 feet above and near avert it the summit of the volcano, yet It has not been found necessary to protect It with lightning rods. The absence of Writ Organised Lcltrr Household. thunderstorms has been accounted for few are Washington Letter: There more thorough or industrious house- on the supposition thst the smoke and keepers In Washington than Mrs. L. hot vapor constantly rising from the Z. Letter. The first morning of each great crater of Etna act aa a lightning month she spends looking over her ac- conductor on a grand scale. counts and settling all bills for her household. Every department of the rarl In Ielni. Letter household is managed upon a Among the curiosities of tropical most systematic plan and runs like plant life are the pearl found occasclockwork. ionally in the cocoa-npalm of the NO. 15. 1898. j "HE SAW THE YOUNG GERMAN SINKING OUT OF SIGHT." tlclpated and far more in this grandest of God's terrestrial cities." The first man who Journeyed through this terrible gorge did so Involuntarily. The following la the story of his journey: A few years after the civil war, Capt. Baker, who bad won his title In the confederate army, Induced James White and a young German named Henry Strole, to go on a prospecting tour with him to the then uninhabited and but little known San Juan country In southwestern Colorado. After weeks of privation the prospectors reached the promised land, to the west of tbe Sierra Madre. They at once went to work, and rich gold finds confirmed Bakers judgment The men worked for nearly a month with great success, and were beginning to feel that the Indiana would not bother them, when Just before daylight one August morning they were startled from sleep by the thunder of rocks from the cliffs above and the shrill yells of the savages. With dawn they saw tbe Navajos on both aldea of tbe deep gulch, but the borror of the situation waa Increased when Capt. Baker fell, with a bullet through hla brain. White and Strole saw their only chance for escape waa to make their way down the canyon to the west They took tbe heavily laden burre hurlalong, tbe Indians following, and cliffs. the from rocks ing About the middle of ihe afternoon the maddened waters. When these rapids were passed. White succeeded in making a landing and securing the raft to the narrow trip of shore. The food, the arma ,tha mining tools were gone, but the buckskin bag full of gold was still fast to the logs. It was now that the hero In White's nature aaaerted Itself. Alone, without food, at the bottom of a canyon. In tha heart of a. vast desert, with unknown dangers ahead, and no Idea of where the mighty gorge ended, and no knowledge of the abodes of the nearest whites, yet this man did not despair. He thought of hla mother and trusted In God. i 'i. Now and then the raft shot past side canyons, bleak and forbidding, like cells set in the walls of a mighty prison. On went the raft with no living thing In sight, for these profound depths were never stirred by the wings of bird, and hitherto no human being bad ever gone through them and lived to tell the tale. On the fourth afternoon since he had had food, the canyon widened out and he saw bushes. He made the shore and ate the leaves and the pods of the mesqulte bean. At length, and after he had been fifteen days In the canyon's depths. Whites reason tottered, and he lay helplessly and hopelessly on the raft Just fourteen days from the time be started on this forced voyage, White beard the splash of oars and encouraging cheers. He waa too weak to raise bis bead. In a abort time bo saw many bearded facet looking down on him in pity. He had passed through the great canyon, and had drifted to Callvllle, a Mormon settlement at the mouth of the Virgin river. White weighed In health 180 pounds; he weighed less than 90 when he finished the most wonderful trip In the records of adventure sr daring. - WEBS WOVEN INTO A NET. Corertnr Bmb( Mad from Thread 8paa by Spider. According to he Paris Temps' correspondent at Antananarivo, a special fine nmade entirely of spiders' webs, la being manufactured in the profesThi sional school at Antananarivo. process Is a very simple one. Th thread of several dozen spiders li wound on winders, the quantity produced by each spider ranging from fifteen to forty yards. The covering oi the web la removed by repeated washings, and the web made into a thread of eight strands. When the thread la spun, it Is easily woven Into a gauze, which Is very fine but very strong. It is to be used for an experimental covering of a navigable balloon by Mr. Renard, the head of the French military balloon school at Chalaia, near Paris, who has been engaged for many years In experimenting In aerial navigation. It la believed that the difference In the weight of an ordinary spiders web net will make a great Improvement. DbIIoob Net a Complete Bucee. what a winning way that Mia Dexter haa! She Oh, I don't know. She's been trying for ten years and hasnt won a husband yet. He |