Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-07-24


off his shoulders, and have marvels left
that not even the trunk could be indiffer-
ent to.
These citizens of Flanders-Flounders
| think they call them, though | feel sure
| have eaten creature Of that name, or
seen it in an aquarium, or menagerie, or
in picture, or somewhere-are thrift
ty, industrious race, and are as CONNER
cially wise and far-sighted as they were in
Edward the Thirds time, and as enduring
and patient under adversely as they were
in Charles the Bold's. They are prolific
in the matter of children; in some of the
narrow streets every house seemed to have
q freshet Of children, which had burst
through and overfowed into the roadway
One could hardly get along for the pack
Of Juveniles and they were all Soiled and
all healthy They all wore wooden shoes
which clattered noisly on the stone pave
ments All the women were hard at
work; there were no idlers about the
houses. The men were away at labor, no
doubt In nearly every door women sat
at needle-work or something of that mar
ketable nature-they were knitting prin-
cipally. Many groups of women sat in the
streets in the shade of walls, making
point lace. The Iacc-maker holds a sort
of pillow on her knees with a strip of
cardboard fastened on it, on which the
lace pattern has been punctured. She
sticks punches of pins in the punctures,
and about them weaves her web of
threads. The numberless threads diverge
from the bunch of pins like the
spOkes of a wheel, and the spools
from which the threads are being
unwound form the outer circle of the
wheel. The woman throws these spools
about her with flying fingers, in and out,
over and under each other, and so fast
that you can hardly follow the evolutions
with your eyes. In the chaos and confus-
ion of skipping spools, you wonder how
she can possibly pick up the right one
every time, and especially how she can 90
on gossiping with her friends all the time,
and yet never seem to miss a stitch. The
laces these ingenious Founders were
making were very dainty and delicate in
texture, and very beautiful in design.
Most Of the shops in Ostend seemed de-
voted to the sale of sea shells All sorts
of figures of men and women were made
of shells; one sort was composed of gro
tesque and ingenious combinations of lob
ster claws in the human form. And they
had other figures made Of stuffed frogs
and some were not to be described at all
without indecent language. 1t must re-
Quire barbarian nature to be able to find
humor IN such nauSeating horrors as these
latter. These things were exposed in the
public windows where young girls and
little children could see them, and in the
shops sat the usual hairylipped young
woman waiting to sell them
apparently change of air did not affect
Marks dislike Of early rising, for he
speaks most ungratefully of the energetic
German walters. who refused to allow him
a little more slumberl
1t was an excellent hotel: the utmost
care was taken that everything should 90
| right | went to bed at ten and was called
! at eleven, to ''take the early train" I said
| was not the one, so the servant stirred
up the next door and he was not the one;
| then the next door and the neXt-no sue
cess-and so on till the reverberations of
/ the knocking were lost in the distance
I down the hall, and | fell asleep again.
They called me at twelve to take another
early train, but | said | was not the one
again, and asked as a favor that they
would be particular to call the rest next
time, but never mind me- However, they
could not understand my English; they
only said something in reply to signify
that, and then went on banging up the
bOarderS, none of whom desired to take
the early train.
When they called me at one, it made
my rest seem very broken, and | said if
| they would skip me at two | would call
myseit-nOt really intending to do it, but
! hoping 10 beguile the porter and deceive
/ him. lie probably suspected that, and
/ was afraid to trust me, because, when he
made his rounds at that hour he did not
( take any chances on me, but routed me
, out with the others. | got some more
| sleep after that, but when the porter called
me al three felt depressed and faded and
! greatly discouraged. So | gave it up and
! dressed myself The porter gave me
/ cup Of coffee, and kept me awake While l
/ drank It. He was a good, well-meaning
sort of Founder, but really drawback
/ TO the hotel, should think.
! Poor Mr.. Blank came in then, looking
worn and old He had been called for in
! all the different trains too, Just as | had.
He said it was good enough hotel, but
! they took too much pains. While We sat
there talking we fell asleep and were
called again at four. Then we went out
and dozed about town till six, and then
drifted aboard the Lively.
The Shah did not profoundly impress
Mr.. Twains republican soul, as is thus
/ described:
He was a handsome, strong featured
man, with a rather European fairness of
compilations; had a moustache, wore spec
tacles, seemed of good height and grace
tul build and carriage and looked about
forty or shade less He was very SIM
ply dreSsed-brimless stovepipe and close
buttoned dark green military suit, without
ornament. Not wholly without ornament,
for he had band two inches wide worn
over his shoulder and down across his
breast, scarf fashion, which band was one
solid glory of fine diamonds.
y. is pleasant to know that the United
States was not surpassed by England de-
ference to Persia, but the spirit in which
it was rendered is doubtful. This is
Twains description of his conduct:
The Shah walked back alongside his