Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-11
DOG DAY REFLECTIONS.
Don't Growl About the weather-You Are
Better on Than Many.


A LITTLE HUT UNDER AN KMBANKMENT-soME
VERY HOT PLACEs-IMPRovEMENT IN WASHING
TON wEATHKR-A DESERTED TowN-cALoRIcs
IN CANADA.
Just stop and think moment Wipe the per-
spiration from your brow and reflect that at
the very moment when you are hot millions Of
people are hot too. Over in Georgetown. down
near Rock creek, SO situated that a steep en-
bankment cuts of all the breeze that may be
stirring, there is a small cottage. 1t has no
parlor or dining room. The cooking (when
there is any, the washing and eating are all
done in one small room. The bed room is only
Just large enough to hold one bed; over this is
a loft right under the roof, and in that room is
another bed. A whole family lives in this
shanty, and if it is hot elsewhere, depend upon
it. it is hotter there.
We are all in the same box, my friend, and
what is the use Of growing about the weather
when you are no worse OFF than your neighbor?
yourself that you are the only person who is
doing so. There are a million fans. at least,
going. Some Of them are being worked by
slaves in Africa; others are being lazily waved
by dark-eyed women in the south. Your fan is
not the only one in the world.
HOT WEATHER EXPERIENCED BY SAILORS.
"What is the hottest place in the world?" was
the question asked a naval officer by q STAR
reporter the other day.
''The hottest place that was ever in" was
the reply, was a certain port on the east coast
OF South America. ! am not going to give the
name, for they may have q land boom down
there, and don't want to interfere with any
prosperity the place may get. Our government
ordered my ship down there in August. When
we came to anchor we found there was yellow
fever on shore. You know what that means,
suppose. 1t involves the isolation of the ship
and strict orders from the commander for no
one to leave her. still, CLASSY surface Of sea
about you, nothing but white awning between
you and the sun and in the cabin not a breath
OF air stirring; you can imagine what 1t would
be. At such times laziness comes over the
whole ships company.
Nobody has any energy and all hands 60 TO
sleep in the afternoon, if they can, but can
tell you that a little bit Of a state room with .
little round hole in it for q window is not o
very comfortable place to sleep in. At night
we come on deck and try to smoke and enjoy
that sailor dislikes, the most disagreeable 10
to ride at anchor for weeks at a time and hold
no communication with the shore. don't re-
member what the thermometer was on this
occasion, but know that we suffered three
weeks of intolerable heat. although fortunately
hoOoNy Aau INC ycuoW ieNcE.
BETTER OFF THAN OUR ANCESTORS.
1t cannot be denied that the naval officer is
worse off in hot weather than we are Then
there is another reflection that should make
one more contented-the present generation ia
Tar better of than our ancestors were. WashS
ington Itself, that Is now getting quite reputa-
ton as summer resort, used to be much less
agreeable than it now is. All the streets are
lined with fine shade trees but it was not always
thus. Then, again, there were swamps about
us and they no longer exist. Malaria is now a
thing OF the past to the man who takes few
precautions
But take place like Philadelphia or New
York. There hasn't been case of yellow fever
there for many years. but about sixty years
ago the city OF brotherly love was almost de-
populated one summer by yellow Jack" A
panic seized the inhabitants and many people
died from sheer neglect and others were
town were crowded with hospital tents. New
York was little better. Nearly every summer
there was more or less Of yellow fever.
YELLOW JACK ALMOST THING OF THE PAST.
The dreaded disease is almost thing of the
past in America. Some few of the cities south
of US suffer from it occasionally, but New Or
leans. which was its favorite abode. has not had
an epidemic for twelve years. The intervals
between epidemics are further and further
apart, and it is quite certain that the time is
near at hand when there will be no yellow fever
In America. Even the swamp country Of the
south is growing healthier. 1t cannot be con-
tended that it is healthy or that it ever will be,
but 1t is not as deadly as it used to be. rice
plantation, for instance, is an unsafe spot to a
white man during the dog days. There the
dreaded country fever attacks one if he sleeps
where 1t is.
DESERTED TOWN.
There used to be a small town in South Caro-
lima that has since been abandoned, but that
in its day was quite famous place. 1t was the
Judicial capital of the Beaufor. district and the
lawyers had to live there for part of the year.
In winter the population was composed of
about 100 people and in summer not soul
lived there except a certain shopkeeper named
Bassilue.
10 sleep in this village from June to Novem-
Der was almost certain death to every one but
bassliue, and he, for some strange reason, was
exempt from the poison that arose from the
surrounding swamps. The prisoners in the
jail cheated the courts and lawyers OF their
fees, for when the summer came they were
pretty certain to die. 1t may have been due to
this. as much as to any other cause, that the
capital was moved and the little town died a
natural death.
HOT WEATHER IN CANADA.
A noted traveller whose peregrinat,ons have.
ho"c'cI, Ueeu coHuHeu principally TO THIS con-
tinent, upon being asked where the hottest
summer weather could be found replied that
the worst days he had ever experienced were
spent in Canada. In northern ATTITUDES the
heat does not last for a very long time. but
when it is hot it is hot with vengeance The
STAR man, on his own account, remembers hay
ing been i'll North Dakota one July when the
thermometer registered l04 degrees in the
shade and where the atmosphere was almost
sitting.
ALL OVER THE WORLD IT IS HOT
at this time of year. The American consul at
Sierra Leone, west coast of Africa. is pining
for the Potomac breezes. The consul at Vera
Cruz, Mexico, is wondering whether he will
escape an attack of yellow Jack" and the
consul general at st. Petersburg is wishing he
was further south. The elephants at the zoo
are thanking their stars they are not back in
India, the puma and the grizzly bears are con-
graduating themselves that they are not in the
west They would prefer to be loose, but they
would rather be here than at home.
Again, let II be inquired, what are you growl-
ing about! You are better off than the Door
fellow in his hut under the brow of the en-
bankment in Georgetown. You are O great
deal cooler than most Of the millions who are
tanning and tanning all day and all night long
III a vain endeavor to get cool. Let us take it
cheerfully, for it won't make you any cooler to
grumble about the heat.
Butterflies That Battle.
From the Victoria Naturalist.
1t is commonly thought that butterfly
breads the water as "a fine lady breads rain, but