Evening star., 1898-07-23

! I y
"Unless they have had experience" re-
marked an army officer to Star reporter,
people are very liable to have very i'm
perfect ideI as to distances in army and
field operations. and a result they get
things considerably mixed. When they
read that armies are engaging with each
other at two thousand yards between
them, they may think that they can see
es ch other. but the reality is far different
At that distance. TO the naked eye, man
or a horse does not look any larger than
speck. 1t is impossible TO distinguish. at
that distance. between man and horse,
and at eight hundred yards less, twelve
hundred yards. especially where there is
any dust, it requires the best kind of eyes
to tell infantry from cavalry. At nine hum
dred yards the movements become clearer,
though it is not until they get within seven
hundred ana fifty yards of each other that
the heads OF the columns can be made out
with anything like certainty. Infantry can
be seen in the sunlight much easier than
cavalry artillery, for the reason that less
dust is raised. Besides that, infantry can
be distinguished by the glitter Of their
musketS. At two thousand yards, however,
everything is unsatisfactory, even with the
aid of field glasses, for marching column
in dry weather raises great deal of dust.
At our recent engagements at Santiago the
heavy rains, OF course, kept Gown the dust,
but the falling rain shut out from view the
opposing forces as enectually as would the
dust. Even a glass would not penetrate it.
There is no doubt that the rifles of the
present day do service at a much greater
distance than those formerly used, but no
general is going to waste ammunition at
greater distance than his men can see to
properly use il. Any frst-claSs arm Will
shoot and DO good service at a greater dis
tance than men can clearly see but the
chaECes are that no battles will be fought
at such distances. The distance between
the W hlte House and the Capitol is about
nineteen hundred yards, and it would not
be practicable 10 fight battle at that dis
tance II it could be avoided
There is no doubt that fabrics of all
kinds are made better at the present time
than ever before" explained a dealer to a
Star reporter ',and while there are many
things spoken of as lost arts, they are not
included in processes of cloth, muslin or
cotton making. Besides that there never
was a period in the worlds history when
what are classed as dry goods were sold so
cheap as they are now. 1t was not many
Years ago when even the commonest grades
of calicoes. the cheapest of all woven goods.
sold for a higher price than really good
muslins do today. This is true of every
thing. including silks. There are, of course,
some sorts of silks that bring high
price as they almost ever did. but these are
very rare and not generally sold or
used. even desired if they could be
bought. India muSiinS are probably the
finest goods that are made, that is, If light
ness is considered. There is a legend in the
trade that piece of India muslin has been
manufactured which, though ten yards
long and one yard wide, weighed but three
and One-tenth ounces 1t could be passed
through q small finger ring. 1t was made
more for show than for service, may be
imagined"
"a generation is uncertain period of
time, though the word is very much used"
observed authority such matters to
Star reporter. strictly speaking 1t means
that amount of time that elapses between
the birth of the father and that of his son.
1t depends, therefore, great deal on the
age of the father. for if ne marries very
young the time between his birth and that
OF his son will be correspondingly brief. In
ordinary calculations, however. it is safe to
put a generation at thirty-three and one
third years. or three generations in each
century. There are instances, though, of
four and even more generations in a CEN
tury. II countries where the people marry
young there are, therefore. more genera
tiOns than there are in others. For the same
reason, generations in southern countries
are much more frequent than in northern
countries. This applies TO the extreme sec
lions at either end of the United States, as
well as to foreign countries A generation,
therefore, in Louisiana is much shorter
period than generation in Maine or Yer
mont"
There is a new table berry on the mar
ket this year" said a market dealer to a
Star reporter, which proves that there is
something new under the sun after all, at
least in the berry business. The newcomer
Is called the wine berry. In shape and color
II is not unlike the raspberry, though it is
q trifie smaller in size. In taste and flavor
It is combination of the raspberry and
the oid-fashiOned red currant. 1t Is su-
perior TO either of the berries from which
it sprung. and has an advantage over
either in that it ships better and lasts
longer. 1t is a graft from the raspberry
and is the result of considerable study and
experiment 1t grows in every respect like
the red raspberry. and Is a prolific. Those
that have been sent to market so far this
season do not show up well as they
should for the rea:on that there has been
but very little rain in this section of the
country for the past two months when the
fruit was making. The retail price is about
the same as that of the raspberry
x x
ut has always been believed that VIOLIN
harp and banjo strings were made out of
the viscera Of the cat explained teacher
Of music TO a Star reporter but l have
Considerable doubt that there ever was a
string so made The gut of a cat is no
more suitable for such use than that of a
mouse, and as far my investigation goes
has never been so used. Violin strings are
made of many kinds of skins but princi-
pally out Of sheep skins. The secret is in
curing the skins, which has always been
kept In Italy, where all the finer and better
grade Of strings are made. There are, how
ever. several concerns in this country which
turn out musical strings, and they make a
very good grade, though they do not COM
pare yet with the Italian strings All
the poets who have sang Of the musical
insideS Of the cat were wrong. Even
Shakespeare, who was phenomenally cor