The herald., 1896-02-26


wheat belt. said it seemed almost incredi-
bic that only few hours ago he was in the
fogs and in the rain necessarily pouring
down in Oregon and Washington. The
change to the beautiful weather in Los
Angeles, was like a transformation scene.
The wheat is looking well, a trifle yellow
in spots. The great danger is from heavy
frost, as the plant is over large areas un-
protected by snow. Mr.. Bridges said the
condition of the English farmer was most
deplorable one, and the outlook for the fu-
ture was very dark. So serious has the
matter become that the government is
taking it in hand The condition of the
land owner is no less serious. Land in
England has decreased so per cent in val
ue inside of ten years. In other words,
the land owners income is cut in half,
with the result of the most radical in
trenchments in expenditures, and the con-.
sequent loss to those trades which minister
especially to the wants of the wealthy.
Noblemen of ancient lineage are only too
glad of an opportunity to rent their historic
country seats and their houses in town to
wealthy Americans and other foreigners,
while they retire to some quiet, inexpens..
one of them, to open fashionable shops, or
even restaurants, in London. Mr.. Bridges
thought that the development of the colo
MES and the fostering of a large emigration
to them the only solution of the difficult
problem, "How shall Englishmen live in
the future?' Mrs. Bridges said she liked
Southern California and its people SO much
that if they left the old country they would
settle here, as they did not like it in the
east.
ayes, I've been ashore at Cape Horn,
blown right atop of it almost, in a bowling
gale and blinding, snow nearly two years
and half ago, 'said Enoch B. Fletcher, some
time mate of the British bark 1Eschylus.
"There were eighteen of us and we had a
most miraculous escape. The captain and
five of the crew were badly hurt, and two
weeks after we we're cast away died in
spite of all we could do aided by the hos
pitality of the naives. 1t was the las.
storm in early spring, the weather soon
got better and we got to work gold digging.
or to speak more accurately placer mining
along the beaches, which we reached in
catboat outfits. Most of the miners come
from Argentina, and are an odd mixture
of races. had a tenderfoot's luck and in
one seasons work cleaned up more than
ten years. pay as chief officer. Then
went to TERRA del Fuego, leaving my
| chums behind. Some Of them married
| half-breeds. l started north and saw a
| good deal of Patagonia end more than was
pleasant of the natives, the scaliest lot of
rogues on this globe, especially the half
wild Guachos and the white vagabonds,
wretched outcasts who wander about
! the Patagonian deserts picking up livin.
j in remote sheep ranches over the country
| and in TERRA del Fuego. l have seen some
big bands of sheep in California, Oregon,
Wyoming and New Mexico in this country,
nd a thnuaan
sheep farms of New Zealand and Austria
liza, but / never saw such a country for
sheep as Patagonia. They literally swarm
all over the deserts and the grassy plains.
But the old state of Maine is good enough
for me.
Laying down Brander Matthew'S Intro
duction to American Literature, recently
published, the professor said: "It seems
extraordinary that it should have been left
to Mr.. Brander Matthews to formulate
what so many Americans had felt-name-
ly. that the American has precisely the
same right to the English speech as the
Briton. He is not the Briton's younger
brother any more than he is his elder
brother. Each has an equal claim to a
common interchangeable Inheritance of
the great language and literature, which
are the most precious possessions of the
two nations. If the present-day literature
of either Great Britain or America depart
in any way from the standards of the past
as depart it must--the departure must be
judged purely on it's own merits, and with
out the least regard to what course litera-
ture is taking in the other country at the
same time England has no more the
right to set the standard for America, than
America has to set the standard for Eng
land. The standard is set mainly by the
great masters of the past, partly by the
force and good taste of the masters of to-
t. Il -.
cial standard raised in the other country
and neither country has the right to treat a
variation from its own standard, as being
a variation from the true standard of Eng
lish literature. These points have been
very clearly brought out in this very adj
mirable book. American literature must
naturally develop on its own lines. Pollti-
cally, Americans, unlike Canadians and
Australians, are free from the colonial
spirit which accepts as a matter of course
the inferiority of the colonist compared to
the man who stays at home in the mother
country. We are not entirely free as yet,
however, from the colonial idea in matters
itself in an uneasy self-ccnsciousness,
whether of self assertion or self-depreca-
tion, but always tacitIy admits the assump-
ton that American literature should in
some way be tried by the standard of con-
temporary British literature. The folly of
good temper and the entire absence of lit
erary Chauvinism.
George w. Richardson, we'll known
mining engineer, who has brother IN
johannesburg, showed the reporter letter
Just received from him. The writer said
ali the trouble in the Transyaal arose from
Gladstone's stupidity in ceding this terri.
tory to which they had not shadow of
claim. The Rand and the other mines,
said Mr.. Richardson, owe their prosperity
entirely to the indomitable pluck and
energy of British and Americans who are
in heartiest accord with each other in all
things pertaining 10 the great industry
they have developed. The Rand mines
alone produce SO per cent of all the gold
found in the state, and supplies the world
with 25 per cent of it's total gold supply.
The grand total of the output for the whole
stated amounted on December 81 toS 25,-
100000. Owing to the introduction of
the newest improvements in machinery
and various economic devices, s'lch as the
Macarthur Forrest cyanide and other chem
ical processes, whereby the gold can be
obtained at the minimum of cost, the
Transvaal gold fields are at this moment
probably in a more advanced state of per-
fec ion than any other in the world,
notwithstanding the dire predic-
ton. IF faiItyra Vhn host ,u-