Evening star., 1896-12-05

'"There is general impression, III this
country at least, that the institution known
as tar and feathers is distinctively Amer
lean. Nothing could be further from the
mark" observed Judge Riley of the Nlr-
ginia bar. THE fact is, what We under
stand 20 be coating of tar and feathers is
of ancient orgiin. There is also an idea
aioat that tar and feathers is sort of
southern celebration, that it was invented
there, and that it is of common occurrence
in that section of our loved country. l as
sure you that both these ideas are wrong
all the way through. In the first place,
while there is plenty of tar in the south
the stock of feathers is not so large. And
again. they are too valuable 10 use in such
a way.
ment it Is much easier and better 10 give
him a thorough cowhiding. A cowhiding
sticks as well as a coating of tar, If 1t Is
properly applied. Tar and feathers orig-
mated in the days of Richard Coeur-de-
Lion. over eight hundred years ago, as is
evidenced by one of his ordinances Tor
seamen, follows: That If any man IS
taken with theft pickery, and thereof
convicted he shall have his head polled,
and hot pitch poured upon his pate. and
upon that the feathers of some pillow or
cushion shaken aloft that. he may therepy
be known for a thief
x x
'It has always amused me. remarked
botanical expert Ito hear people talking
of their preference for black pepper over
white. and the various explanations they
give for the same. Little do they know
that both black and white pepper grow
upon the shrub. Over the pepper
seed grows a black covering. The seed
itself is white. nearly so. To make black
pepper the seed and its external covering
are ground up, while white pepper Is the
seed alone ground up. White pepper is mild
er than black, the greater part of the pun
gency being in the covering \ pepper
made of the coverings alone would be such
to a slang term-hot stuff that 1t
would burn the mouth. The black covering
of the pepper seed contains most of the
OIL"
1T may be some years yet, but l would
not be surprised if the time came when the
color of the uniforms of all armies, that is,
the uniforms of the fighting armies. would
be changed to gray, or. what will be better,
a dried grass COLOR said army officer
who has given much attention to the sub
ject in an official way. Statistics show
the pronounced colors in uniforms operate
against their wearers in that 1t makes
them conspicuous. OF course, 1 have to
admit that for the past twenty years the
tendency has been toward arbitration. Still.
is forearmed. nations will continue to
prepare themselves for war. 1 hap
pen TO know that mary of the long
est-headed officers of our army favor a
change of color for the uniform-that is.
the uniform for fighting service. For dress
paraies, of course there is no need of
changing the blue. Our sentiment Is
strongly in favor of it. and will continue
that way, though our experience has been
that blue. and especially dark blue. has
caused the death of thousands of men who
might have escaped death were they not
so easily distinguished. With our present
prejudice against gray-though gray has
always been the color worn at West Point
it would seem strange that it should be
adopted.
The satherers of postage stamps-that
is. those of whom a record has been made
now number hD,U0 persons in this coun-
try alone.' said a Post Office Department
official. and the army, enormous as it is.
is constantly on the increase. There is
scarcely city or even large-szed town in
this country where postage stamps are not
dealt in OF course. in many cities the
stamp business is carried on as side line
in connection with other business but there
are very large number of stores where
stamps are dealt in exclusively On 1ith
street. New York. there are now. and have
been for several years. a half dozen whole
sale dealers in postage stamps and at least
a dozen retail dealers.
SoEle of the wholesale dealers have
several men on the road. travelling from
place to place looking up ard disposing of
rare stamps In Europe the stamp craze
is simply enormous and several foreign
houses have drummers on the road in this
country constantly Only few days ago in
this city / knew of a 9O-cent internal rev.
enuc stamp of the war series being sold for
$500. In one day afterward the same stamp
was sold for 500. and it is now held by it's
owner at sSU. Another strange thing in
connection with the stamp craze is that it
seldom effects women. When women do
catch it, however, they have it bad. 1
know of stamp belonging to gentleman
who resides here. though at present he is
travelling about showing 1t to stamp en-
thusiasts which was issued by short
lived republic and which is valued at
s2.U~- Its value comes from the fact that
there are but few of them in existence
X x 4 4
Though L have heard great deal about
kleptomania and read a great deal about
it,. said an experienced police officer cit
Is very rare Now don't quote me as say
ing that kleptomania does not exist as a
disease, for 1 am positive 1t does though
IN nearly thirty years experience 1 have
not actually ran against but two or three
cases. In the next three weeks there will
he d lot Of stealing done in the crowded
stores, Dy persons VINO should not steal,
and kleptomania will be urged in defense
of many of them. Kleptomania does not
work with me during the Christmas holi-
days even. The trouble is weakness, not
dises Sc. All the pretty things are exposed
in the stores, and some persons are natu-
rally hogs and want to get everything,
even if they nave to steal. Others think
they are smarter than the store people
and pride themselves on what they can
pick up without being noticed. They sue
ceed very often. not because they are
smart. but because the circumstances
crowded stores and tired-out clerks, oper-
ate in their favor"
The only genuine kleptomanac that I
have had to handle in my own personal
expeTie1 ce was a fellow who was a kleptu-
maniac and burglar combined. / noticed
him about daybreak one morning as he
was coming cut of house on 18th street
between II and / northwest. He had a
basket of silverware. 1t so heavy ne
could hardly carry it. AS l started for
him he ran and got away. though, OF
course he cropped the basket. In less thai,
a month i caught the same fellow coming
out of the same house with the same
basket and silverware. AS ] grabbed hold
of him he seemed to wake out of q dream
On his trial his lawyers showed that the
fellow was 4 confirmed morphine eater and
that at times " hen he was under the in