The Washington critic., 1889-05-31
THE TOWNS PHOTOGRAPH.


The demands of the Government on
Its employees arc sometimes ridiculOusly
below the amount of compensation aud
quite as often eXtravagantly in excess
Of the salary paid But 1t makes no
difference how much the work. or how
little the pay, the Government can find
numerous applicants for any vacancy.
A few days ago an examination was
held TO fill n vacancy In the Office Of
Linguist in the Agricultural Depart
mcnt The man who fills II must speak
English, German, French Spanish and
Italian. The salary paid the posscssor
Of these accomplishments is $1,000 a
ycar-about the compensation Of first
class clerk In ordinary business. This
Circumstance is insignificant compared
to position in the work Of preparing
the Nautical almanac, which pays 5000
year for the highest mathematical
knowledge. There are many men, some
of them professors in colleges, who are
willing TO take the place, because of the
fact that they can there obtain expert.
ence which IL would be impossible to
get elsewhere.
~"S
There are number of picturesque
traditions connected with the Potomac
River. 1t was called by the Indians
Pow.tow mac, the word being used to
designate place where the fishes came
in shoals to spawn. A short distance
up the river are three rocks known as
the Three Sisters. They are entirely
out of water at low tide. One story
concerning them is that three Indian
girls were drowned there, and another
that three white girls were captured by
Indians and kept on the sand bar where
the rocks are until the tide came up and
drov ned them. Some of the old set.
tiers along the river tell strange stories
about the place Whenever any one is
drow ned there his death Is foretold by
deep, drumming noise, which is heard
at about 10 o'clock on the night before
II seems TO come directly from the Three
Sisters, and has almost precisely the
reverberating tones of drum. IL
can't hear 1t, only when am drunk, y
said one of the inhabitants Of the
neighborhood, "but my wife alway,
hears 1t before any one is drowned
there" The warning was heard dis
tinctly night before last Yesterday
afternoon Young Samuel Graf tipped
into the river from boat and wa,
dow ned in spite of every effort t
rescue him. The tradition is held II
great respect by number of people
The coincidence is, to say the least, {
remarkable one.
~
OF all descriptions of the Whit,
House babies which have appeared t
date, the most interesting and the on,
in the best taste was that appearing il
the New York World of Sunday last
II was written by Miss Nell Cusack
Nell Nelson) of that journal for tn,
World and the Chicago Iat;r. Ocean
The account OF the youngsters at III,
bath is charming. "There are," say
the New York Graphic, "a great many
Western men on the press of New York
and, as rule, they are successful jour
nalists The Western women are be
ginning TO think they may have show
in the same direction. Not long agt
Nell Nelson, whose real name Il
Cusack, came here from the Chicago
Times to try her pen on the World
where she has done some cXcellen
work. Her first hit was in writing ur
the White Slave Girls of Chicago
series Of articles on the overtasked shoI
girls, which attcacted national attcn
tion. She Is only about 20 years o
age, and as bright as new silver dol
lar besides being as independent as
Bohemian, aud tireless in her work"