Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-06
Wilton for The Evening Star.

written for The Evening star
1.-THE bone solo," remarked an old minstrel
performer to Star reporter. though once
very popular, is regarded as a hoodoo In
the burnt cork profession and is never al
lowed any more VI der any circumstances.
1t is feared as much as the yellow clarionet,
which, according to the superstitions of the
show business. is one of the most fatal
things that exist The yellow clarionet
not only induces bad-that IS, poor bust
ness-but in addition to this it causes
trouble among performers, produces rail-
road accidents. and, in short. it winds per-
formers and companies UP. There was a
time in the minstrel business when it was
just as natural to have a bone solo played
by some performer during the evening as it
was to have a ballad sung. and the public
took as kindly to one as it did the other
There was scarcely any difference between
bone solos They all sounded about the
same and the limitations were always stere-
otype1- Every bone soloist went through
the same performance. and used chair in
the center of the stage to heishten the eff
feet Who of the hundreds and hundreds
of thousands who have heard bone solo
played can forget the limitations of the
starting dl:i stopping OF a railroad train:
the battle, the charge and repulse; saving
bone sOlOist thought it was necessary to
give an imitation of a two-forty horse 60
ing up the road. and especially to initiate
the sounds Of the trotter crossing a bridge.
Haverly first put the ban on bone solos,
and one of the clauses in the contracts he
made with performers was that they would
Tot under any circumstances while they
were in his employ, either in private pub
lie, attempt bone solo. No minstrel per-
former can explain where the hoodoo comes
in. but they fear it worse than any of the
other omens of bad luck"
X
THE general impression that exists and
has existed for SO long time that the
teeth of the negro-man, woman and child
we're harder than and superior to those of
the white man. volunteered leading dem
fist to Star reporter, never had much
foundation in fact, and has less now than
ever. Though the teeth of the colored race
look very white and strong. it is a fact that
there are today more bad teeth in proper
ton to numbers among them than the
whites Feeling that they were specially
blessed in this regard, the colored people
have never been as careful with their
teeth as the whites Another thing not
generally known is that if it was not for
the work of drawing teeth of colored per-
sons many of the country dentists could
not exist The colored man or woman
takes no chances in the matter of his or her
teeth II the teeth give them pain they
insist on having them drawn, and nothing
else will satisfy them 1t is to say
TO them that by the proper treatment
filling, bridging and other work-their teeth
can be saved for years. if not permanently.
They insist on having their aching teeth
drawn, and manage to chew up their food
without them. 1t is very rare thing for
colored people, except among the more
Intelligent. to have any false teeth put in.
There was a time, no doubt, when the COL
ored race had stronger teeth than the
whites, but that was years ago, and the
conditions which then favored the negro
are now against him. The moment the
colored man gave up eating corn bread
two and three times day. that moment
his teeth began TO go through the same ex-
periences those of the whites
IF the late Jerry Rusk had been Secre-
tary Of Agriculture two three months
longer than he was he would have issued a
book on The Trotting Horse which would
have been in as much demand as his other
book. Diseases of the Horse the circula-
ton of which has been phenomenally large"
said a prominent horse raiser to a Star
reporter. He had had prepared nearly all
the matter for the book and had the work
divided up among experts, in the same way
as he had Diseases of the Horse written.
pEOpdIcu ny d pcIoOE
specially competent to write it. The work
was to be handsomely and generously Illus
trated by photographers. The late Senators
stockbridge. Stanford and others who were
Interested in horse raising. and especially
raising the speed horse, had secured for
the work photographs of all the best fami-
lies of trotting horses bred in this coun-
try. and besides, had furnished a great
deal OF Information on the subject. The
article on Ambassador, the famous Mich
1gan sire. had been prepared by Senator
Stockbridge himself. while that on Elec-
tioneer. the king of trotting sires. would
have been the work of Senator Stanford.
The theory of these gentlemen was, and
In inis Secretary Rusk concurred heartily
mat II Is no more expense to raise a fine
bred horse than il is a common horse In
one case hardly SO could be expected to
be realized from the horse and seldom
mat amount, while in the other, the care
fully bred horse. there did not appear TO
be any limit TO the price. Senator Stock
bridge gave many instances where he sold
horses fo- 800 but after he gave some at
1ention 10 the breeding his prices rose
into the thousands the average price of
Ambassador colts being over 500 Senator
Stanford in his article instanced the case
OF the famous mare Beautiful Bells owned
by nln In twelve years she had nine
colts. which ranged in price from s. 900 TO
s12-'.g1 each. the latter being the price Sc
cured for Arion. now owned by j. Malcolm
Forbes of Boston Arion was foaled while
President Harrison and Secretary Rusk
Were visiting Senator Stanford's farm in
california. and originally was named by
President Harrison. who was asked to give
the colt name. Baby Mckee. Mr.. Forbes
changed the name upon becoming the own
er The total received for the colts of
Beautiful Bells has been over 500 900 or
q as 81 much as could be secured by raising
1000 common-bred horses Secretary Rusk
mad no trouble in seeing that the big
money in horse raising was in horses ~
fashionable breeding, or those which in
turf parlance. bred on, that is. became
faster and faster in each generation. AS
say. the book was almost ready to 90 tn
press when Secretary Rusk got enthusiast
ideally interested in President Harrison's
campaign for reelection He Temporarily
laid aside the book until the campaicn was
over. and the result being the opposite of
what was expected he gave it up for his
successor TO finish. and that seems to have
been the end of the matter"
though the Chiaaman keens tho
laundry. explained a colored woman who
Is fully posted on the subject, land is SUM-
posed TO 'wasnee washee,' the average
Cfinaman seldom. if ever. washes an ar
ticle that comes into his laundry. II is
not because he cauOat u-,sh