The Opelousas courier., 1898-09-03
NOTES AND COMMENTS,

rate utterly unmatched in history,
The art Of swimming is being taught
in Boston's public schools, and the
pupils are quite deeply immersed in
the subject
1t is noticeable, that with a great in
crease in the exports of live cattle the
shipments of dressed and canned meat
have materially fallen off.
Progress is demonstrated in Kansas
City by the fact that the Black Maria,
which has been in use for over a quar-
ter OF a century, is to be discarded and
a modern vehicle substituted.
The American Association of Dane
ing Masters has decided that the prin-
clpal dance for this year shall be called
the Dewey T%wo-Step," whats the
matter with the Dewey Quickstep'?
Don Carlos the Spanish pretender,
has $30,000,OOO, but he is not likely to
spend more than a dollar and a quart
er for the present war. He calmly as
sures himself that if he had been on
the throne thilgs would have been
considerably different.
Just at this time when the public is
engrossed with wal a Kansas scientist
very pleasantly relieves the strain by
a paper on THE Behavior of Kinop-
lasm and Nucleolus in the Division of
the Pollen Mother Cells of A%sclepias
Cornute." The horrors of war do not
seem quite so terrible now.
Between Dewey morns and eyes,"
"Hobson's choice" "Sampson's night"
"Schley's cunning" "Camara's focus
not to mention the atrocities capable
Of being wrenched out of Admiral Ger
vera the professional punster is simply
swamped in an embarrassment of
riches.
There are thousands Of men In the
navy to-day who would give their
lives for Hobson's choice. His name is
an immortal part of the annals of the
greatest nations on, earth, and his deed
will be recounted and his example held
up to admiration ages after he has
gone on the only call from which none
of us will return.
Spain has been in possession Of Cuba
w 400 years, and of the Philippines
nearly 600 years and it is said she pos
sesses no authentic map of the former
and does not know how many islands
constitute the group of the latter.
This dereliction alone should be sufic-
lent cause for demanding their evacua-
ton by the bull fighters.
"In Portland" says The Kennebec
(Me.) Journal, they are doing things
brown in patriotism. Over the tomb of
Captain Blyth, in the Eastern Gene
terry, citizens have placed a Union Jack
in honor of a brave sailor. Blyth was
master Of the British brig Boxer, and
was killed In an engagement with the
United States ship Enterprise off Port
land Harbor in the War Of 1872. The
attention to his grave in Portland is
only another little significant thing
showing the dawn of Anglo-American
era of friendship and mutual benefit"
Captain Gridley was q dis
tinguished and gallant officer,
and, no doubt handled his
| ship most capably in the Manila fight,
yet perhaps his surest hold on fame is
in the calm words with which Admiral
Dewey, standing by his side, opened
the engagement: "You may fire when
ready, Gridley." Backed up by the I'M
| erring and masterful work that fol-
! lowed them, these words have quite as
| secure a place in our history as Perry's
1--WE have met the enemy and they are
ours" and Lawrence's pathetically
futile Don't give up the ship"
Old General Merritt has made ar
rangements to get married on his re-
turn from Manila. Wise General Mer-
rift! The nan who marries when he
is old is the wisest man, except the
man who marries when he is young.
! The old man has n advantage which
is important-he does not live to have
his children disappoint him. He can
| die believing himself the father of
wonders, instead of feeling sorrowful
| responsibility for a lot of whiskered
| nobodies. An unsuccessful, worthless
child is a pretty sharp serpent's tooth,
| even when not u%ngrateful.
The New York Observer says: China
Is not being divided, as is frequently
asserted. 1t is too big and unwieldy
- +. ro~<if;0ra1 III of tp9Cf among
the maritime powers, which can only
touch it's rim, it's littoral. What is
t%ranspiring is a process of amputation
of the extremities of China at the hand
of this or that European sawbones.
Turkey is not the only sick man in the
world; China has been ailing for hun
dreds Of years. But the Chinese will
hardly relish this European doctering
however great a benefit to China it
may eventually prove, in indirect ways
of commercial stimulation or religious
indoctrination.
Hooley the English promoter, the
shrewd juggler with millions, who
could buy a property for a song and sell
it for a whole opera, says he has been
b%ankrupted by the Matchmaking de-
mands Of newspapers. The London
stock and financial papers are pretty
hungry, that's true, but if Hooley's
business had been legitimate he would
have been safe. To pay blackmail is
like committing suicide-it is comics.
sion. The legitimate merchant does
not pay blackmail, but the man VIII
treads pr~ecariously on the line which
separates sharp practice from positive