Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-02-16
0 D WORLD ECHOES.
LAwassCE 0LIPnssT AT THE
HARRIS RI Gil.
Swapping sabers at suakim Giant
Argosies Irritating the Inses-
tates Devils Tapers.
written for the RscoRp-psroS !

Written for the REcoRp-CsIoN
In an obituary notice of the late Law
renee Oliphant, which appears in London
paper, occurs the following; SIN 1868 he
went to America, where he imbibed the
ideas of mystical religious socialism taught
! by the prophet Harris, and became one of
fantastic monkish community founded
somewhere in the United States.n Had
the writer of this notice been better ac-
quainted with the topography of America,
he would have located his somewhere J,
at the Harris ranch, in Sonoma county
three miles from Santa Rosa on the
Healdsburg road. The distinguished sub
ject of this memoir, however, was some
thing besides mystic, and in his capacity
of diplomat visited this continent in the
retinue of Lord Elgin. OF all Lawrence
| ELEPHANTS writings, the novel with the
beautiful title OF ssAltiora Peto I seek
for better things will be that he will be
best remembered by.
In the first Soudan campaign the British
war office was harried with complaints Of
| the jamming of cartridges in the Martini
Henrys. In the late sklrmishes the tenn
per of the sabers has given rise to a
similar scandal The swords used by the
| British en- the last occasion were Of Ger
man manufacture, the contract of firm at
Solingen. They proved so brittle that at
| the first onset no less than four sabers
broke over the Arab spears. The sword
Of one trooper snapped three times in the
course of striking as many blows, and
being rendered helpless by the loss of his
weapon, the gallant fellow was spitted on
the lance of his assailant. Another cavalry
man whose sword broke, was cut, down
| from the shoulder to the waist. 1t is not
surprising to hear that the swapping of
swords made the men lose all confidence,
| and that force of habit and the presence
of their officers alone averted rout
Household science is the grandiloauent
| term given to instructions in the culinary
art, in which it is the fad just now for
| fashionable English misses to take a course,
Judging from results, however, those who
have not had the advantage of scientific
training need fear nothing from compe-
tition with their more erudite sisters. The
latter have returned some very startling
answers to questions in household science
put to them at a recent examination One
says that frying is done on gridiron,"
while another states that brown bread is
more bulky and spongy than white, and
because it distends the stomach more than
the refined loaf, is therefore more whole
some" The same candidate however.
qualities her praise of brown bread by re-
marking that it irritates the intestates. We
are told by third that the proper way to
prepare outlets is to pair the chops of the
sheep" The former "should never be
more than an inch long, and if boiled in
cold water few hours will be sufficient to
cook one" This budding housewife warns
her sisters against the extravaganza of
throwing away the eraqs OF mutton, and
concludes with the following recipe for
cooking a shoulder: SECT shoulder of
mutton, trim it from the neck neatly, leav-
ing an inch or two of bone for handle,
add pinch of pepper and salt. Then put
1t on the pan, and six or seven minutes
will cook it."
In view of the fact that sailing ship of
1000 tons is now building at Liverpool,
and two more of 5000 tons each at Brest,
it would seem as if steamships are not 60
ing to have the monopoly of the ocean
carrying trade exclusively. The sea is
broad enough for all, and there will ever
be small but cultured minority who pre-
fer the white wings OF the sailing packet
to the lurid smokestack of the steamer
Yachtmen, and levers of canvas as OPP
posed to propeller blades, may pluck heart
of grace from the above announcement,
which portends an increase in the breed of
those classic leyiathans, of which the keel
that carried Columbus and our historic
Mayfiower are types.
From sailing ships to steamers is natu-
raj transition, and mention of the former
reminds me of a rather curious smile
which occurs in a recent editorial in the
London Times on the not very germane
subject of woman suffrage People,"
says the Times, +" are carried along so COM
fortably nowadays in state cabins, that
they are quite mortified when by chapee
the matches are opened they see the great
ugly cranks and cylinders on which every
thing depends, down to their afternoon
tea That this is very opposite smile,
if it were true, no one will deny. Is il
true, however? Are not the great cranks
and cylinders Of steamship rather OBJ
Jects of fascination to the average passen-
ger, than of horror and disgust, as the
Times editorial would have its readers be-
lieve? The throbbing of the mighty steel
heart Is directly inspiriting, and to the
spectacle presented by its pulsation is due
one of the finest couplets in Locksley
Hall.
So much for the Steamship" now for
the railway" Vigorous preparations are
going forward at the London and North
western Railway Company's works at
Crewe for the railroad race which will set
in next May. Last years race was run
with engines of the ordinary express pat
tern, but not specially constructed for re-
sisting the enormous STRAIN which a pro-
digious rate of speed, maintained for hun
dreds of miles, subjected them to. AS
consequence, the racing told heavily on
the engines engaged in it, in some instances
taking the wear of years out of them.
For the race Of 1889 locomotives are being
specially built, and it is believed that the
additional weight put into the new ones
will enable them to stand the tracking
effects of high rate Of speed in addition
to qualifying them for breaking all previous
records.
In one of my last years "echoes refer
ence was made to the ghastly industry of
making thieves candles A recent Grim
inal trial at Kursk, in southern Russia,
proves that traces of this revolving super
stition still iinger among the Slav prole-
tariate. -Four peasants have been SEN
fenced to terms of penal servitude, varying
from eight to twenty years, for numbering
young girl under circumstances of pecul-
lar atrocity. Lukeria Cherkushina was
enticed to lonely spot in wood and
there strangled and mutilated, the object
Of the crime being to obtain a supply of
human fat for the manufacture of thieves
candies" In burglary which was subse-
quently committed by the light of these
internal tapers, the perpetrators were APP
pretended, and while waiting trial for the
minor crime made full confession of the
more henious one In the course of the
trial it came out that belief in the efficacy
of thieves candles is widespread among
the Russian peasantry-a circumstance