I FACTS ABOUT FURS. St. Paul, Minn, Is the Leading City , .in the Business. The Best Furs .Come from the North- western States—Many of the. Fur- Bearlng Animals Have Been‘ Al- most Totally Exterminated- Perhaps incredulity will sit in the eyes of the readers, but it is neverthe- less a. fact that in St. Paul every year there are upward of 225,000 dogs cut up for the manufacture of fur coats. In the last year or two there has been a scarcity of dogs, and the prices natural- ly have advanced. The dogs come from China, and are that peculiar animal with the black mouth and black tongue. They are a queer animal, and are known in China by the name of “the monks.” Nobody is prepared to believe, per— haps, that in this city annually about 450,000 coonskins are cut up and made into coats, but it is true, for we have the word of a prominent fur man who deals extensively in all kinds of skins, from the skunk to the seal. In 1893 his firm cut up 163,000 coonskins alone, and will "keep it up so long as the animals exist. There are certain animals that have survived civilization, as, for instance, ‘ the skunk, the raccoon and the opos- sum, while the wolf. the bear and ani- mals of their nature have almost en- tirely disappeared. In Louisville there lives an old fur buyer by the name of John White, who has followed the business of buying and selling furs for the past 50 years. When asked a short time ago by a St. Paul fur man what difference he noticed in the business now from the first time he went into it, White replied that the people are getting more coons, opos- sums and skunks now than ever before, proving. conclusively that these animals are not affected by civilization, and go ahead multiplying without stint. The vast majority of the otter, beaver, mink and other skins of that ilk are captured in the northwest, throughout Manitoba and the northwestern states. The wombat of Australia was for many years a drug on the market, and dealers found it impossible to dispose of them until the coat manufacturers of St. Paul took them up. They were found very excellent for the purpose of coat- making, and the hunters who had pre- viously become discouraged and refused to kill any more found their occupa- tion renewed and profitable. In the last two years the stock has been cleaned out, the wombat has become scarce and the prices have advanced proportionate- ly. Everything seems to be declining in quantity but the raccoon, the skunk and the Chinese dog or monk, and these constitute the bulk of furs from which the coats are manufactured to-day. The bufi'alo coat at one time was the most popular of them all, and it was the prevalence of the buffalo that gave St. Paul such a start in the industry of fur coatmaking. At the time the buffalo were plenty on the western plains fully 90 per cent. of the fur coats manufac- tured were made of buffalo skins. It was a great industry, not alone for the Indian, but the white hunter, who flocked to the buffalo swamps by the hundreds. The decline of the buffalo was so rapid as to almost exceed belief. When the industry first started the plains fairly swarmed with the animal, and it wasthe easiest thing in the world to kill all that were desired, but in three years this noble animal was almost en- tirely extinct. When the Northern Pa- cific road was put through to Miles City, Mont, in 1883, there were 225,000 or 250,000 buifalo hides shipped out of that town. That was in 1883 alone. All that number had been killed by white hunters, while the Indian collec- tion amounted to 20,000. The Indians, of course, were not possessed of the im- proved firearms and other methods of destroying the restless creatures, and that accounts for the size of their ‘col- led-ion. So that in 1883 the collection, all told, amounted to about 270,000 hides and robes. In 1884 there were not over 20,000 col- lected by the Indians and white hunt— ers, and in 1885 there were less than 5,000. In 1886 there were none, and now the only buffalo that exist are the prop- erty of the-government and live under its protection in the Yellowstone park. Previous to 1883 all the southern herds were killed off, then the northern herds were attacked, and they disappeared, it seemed, in the twinkling of an eye. One fur that is not used extensively in St. Paul is the seal, although a great many ladies’ garments, coats, muffs and the like are made from this most desir- able of furs. Strange to say, every seal that is captured in Canadian or Ameri- can waters must be shipped to London, England,for dressing and dyeing. They are then returned to the United States and made up. Naturally, all this trans- portation adds to the cost of the gar- ment, and that explains why seal is so much higher than the other furs. Raw skins, of course, have no duty on them, and most other skins can be made up in this country, but all efforts to dress and dye the seal successfully in this country have failed—St. Paul Dispatch. Doctors Starving in France. In the British Medical Journal a Paris correspondent says at least 2,500 physicians in France are battling with starvation, and he adds that physicians themselves are largely responsible for this state of affairs. They “have taught lady patronesses of different societies to diagnose diseases, to dress and band- age wounds, to vaccinate their own childremand those of their neighbors. Medical science is vulgarized in every way. Doctors write to important daily papers explaining how bronchitis and cramps of the stomach are to be cured. and in fashion journals they teach. how [to cure pimples and avert headaches. Five hundred thousand gratuitous con; ~ . sultations are given yearly in Paris dis~ pensaries, and in this way a. large amount of fees is diverted from the medical profession.” —- Chicago Jour- nal. ' L . _/' 1.“. ' Piano. Allegretto. Tempo ben A . day last week I first I thought my ___,__———,,_:- I had a. dref - ful ’Cause I pain just here, had been in lub so long, tape-)4. ’ ' .- 7...... . iii” “a; say “you're gwine to die,” “Oh nig- gers sur - prise I found My , lib when, to my COPE REYZ‘. felt so queer, 0! hey 0! hey heart was wrong, 0! hey 0! hey -Q- 4- 0! hey 0! hey O! 0! hey 0! hey O! dear no, I aint,” said I, ‘ ‘ For - ber wrong my heart was sound And I need’s a lit - tle rye,” rye whis - ky pull’d me ’round. Da Capo. After hast verse only. 3. ' To celebrate my cure, I guess, 0! heyO! heyO! I had dis banjo built express, 0! hey 0! hey 0! If you can’t hear the tune it rings, Just run your eye along dese strings, Good news to all dis. banjo brings! OlheyOIhein ,1 Banjo Praises-73. 4. Now don’t I look a healthy lot? 0! hey Q! hey O! O my! see what a color I’ve got 0! hey 0! hey O! ' So white folks, when you feel too white, Be sure your libber don’t work right; But old rye whisky will set you right i 0! hey 0! hey 0! l ' AhMENIAN WOMEN. Piety and Industry Their Principal Characteristics. ; Biblical Traditions Followed In the Home Life Which Keeps Successive Gen- erations Under One Roof— Model Housekeeper-s. ’ f ' ' v—v’ The school of the Armenian Woman is the home, and the first character- istic of the home, after its piety, is its industry. The households. are large, sons bringing home their wives and grandsons, theirs making up a. family ‘ often of from forty to sixty persons. In . the interior villages among the peasantry, the number is often much larger. This condition is a relic of Biblical times, and is still necessary in many parts of Armenia for mutual protection and economy of living in a. country where life is often dependent upon resistance to barbarous tribes and money and food products are sub- ject to the justice (1’) of Turkish taxa- tion. With primitive utensils and incon- venient methods of living it may be seen that industry is a. necessity in such great establishments, and abso- lute cleanliness goes with it. A Frenchwoman, Mme. Chantre, who Spent months in Armenia with her husband, an oculist, and had an un- usual opportunity to study the ways of the peeple, speaks emphatically of this element of the Armenian home. “The Armenian women,” says she, “are perfect housekeepers. Their houses are marvelously clean." The servant problem does not exist in Armenia. All well-to-do households employ servants who come from the peasantry, and are trained in the service of a family and become a part of it. They “know their place,” as is said here, and yield all respect to their masters and mistresses; on the other hand, their “place” is known and re- spected by every member of the family. The Armenian women are expert and skillful cooks. A prominent for— eigner who hastraveled much through the country has said: “No one has eaten a good dinner who has not eaten one cooked by an Armenian.” The chief meal of the day is eaten in the evening after the work of the day is done. At this are served rich cereals and vegetables cooked with sur- passing delicacy and relish, and fruits, preserved and in their sea- son, of the most luscious and tempting varieties. Zzleatis used. but not so much as here. Armenia is a land of fruit and flowers, 3:11 the Armenian woman is deeply skilled in the art of preserving fruits and making: confections from flowers. The tim; of s .2. 1 compound- ing and preparation 1.5 a sort of holi- day. The whole househol.; gathers for the ceremony; the fruit is prepared and put into great caldrons over which presides some experienced aunt or other relative specially secured for the occasion. The rest of the women as- sist according to the degree of their expertness, down to the younger daughters of the home, who can only earnestly watch and admire the skill which it is their ambition to emulate some day. At the critical moments of the operation, when a drop more or less of lemon juice or an added degree of heat too soon or too late may be fatal, care and watchfulness are in- tensified to the superlative degree. Silence reigns while tastes and tests are taken, and the weight of a nation can hardly burden its bearer more than the responsibility of her on whom rests the final decisive step. and simple. Fruits and sweets abound and saucerfuls of the confections at various stages of the process are gen- erously dealt out. These preserves are oflered to all who are guests of the household. Ceremonious visits would not be com- plete without them. Two fine glass bowls are set out containing each a choice variety of the sweetmeats, with an ample supply of silver spoons and an array of crystal goblets filled with water. A spoonful of the sweet is taken by each guest and a sip of wa- ter, then Turkish coffee is handed round—N. Y. Times. __ , cam! Men Invented Corsets. The much maligned corset was in- vented and first worn by men. The earliest mention in the history of the article was by Aristophanes, who lived in the fifth century, B. C. In one of his comedies he ridicules a brother poet, who, inordinately vain of his personal beauty, was dissatisfied with the shape of his figure, which was far removed from ideal symmetry, being much too thin for his height. He therefore hit upon the plan of improv- ing his physique by incasing his body in an under-cuirass, made of little pieces of wood. The idea was imitated later on by another man, Emperor An- tonius Pius, who found great difficulty in persuading the Roman women to follow his example—N. Y. World. J An Irresistible one. I “How many ponies ”will Ben’s-Spur; give for the hand of Homemade-Pie?” It was the maiden’s father, the great chief Bear’s-Breath, who spoke. _ “I have no ponies,” answered the young suitor, as he stood dangling the scalp of a red-headed man, which hung from his belt. “Ugh! Bean-Pod offers fifty dollars and a mule,” said the chief, with a dis- dainful wafture of the hand. . “But—-—” pleaded the youth. ’ “""l The chief turned to listen. .“But I have a bicycle, and you may, ride it on the Fourth of July of every leap year.” With a bound the chief .clasped Ken’s-Spur in his arms. ' “Homemade-Pie is yours,” he said.— Harper’s Bazar. A Classical Instance. “I hear,” said Diana the huntress, as she rested her toe for an instant on the pedestal. “that Pygmalion is in love with Galatea.” ' . "Indeed!” ejaCulated the Bust of Minerva; “well, it’s a cinch that he gets the marble heart. ”—Puck.‘ ; 2,, For the children it is a holiday pure '
Norwalk Chronicler