The Western outlook., 1900-01-27

Long before the Transvaal trouble,
the Right Honorable Joseph Chamber
lain. present Minister of State for the
Colonies, was famous the world over
for his orchids His costly collection is
one of the finest in the world. They
are telling the story in Paris now that
once he saw a rare orchid, the dupli-
cate of one he had recently added to
his own collection. He asked the price.
Twenty thousand francs" replied the
dealer. The Englishman paid the
money, and then, throwing the flower
on the floor, crushed it with his heel.
Prof. Frederick Won Martens, who
holds the chair of international law in
the St Petersburg University, is a
notable linguist and author, and at the
Venezuela arbitration conference in
Paris, where he read the decision of
the commission, he had a pleasant fash
ion of addressing each delegate in his
own language. One of the English ju-
rists wondered how the professor was
able to keep up his knowledge of so
many modern tongues. The professor
replied: "It is self-defense. You see,
in case l lose my chair l wish to be
prepared for any offer you foreigners
may make"
President Kruger Is minus the
thumb of his left hand. In his youth
it was badly wounded, and rather than
nurse the troublesome member, he cut
1t off Some time ago, in discussing the
present situation, and wishing to Illus
trate how he would do with Sir Alfred
Milner, as he had with his predeces-
sOrs, he began with the little finger of
his left hand: Il was too much for Sir
George Gray" Then, annotating with
his third finger: II was too much for
Sir Howard Berkeley" Passing to the
middle finger: II was too much for Sir
Bartle Frere." Next with the index
finger: II was too much for Sir Her
cules Robinson, and shall be too much
for Sir-alle maagtev' he exclaimed, for
he had come to the place of the miss
ing thumb. The incident Is said to
have depressed him not little, as he
is very superstitious.
At the time of the Sioux attack on
Fort Ripley, in 1862, the Mile Lac Chip
pewas assisted the white men, and the
Secretary of the Interior and the State
Of Minnesota, grateful for this assist
ance, promised that as a reward the
Mile Lac Chippewas should never be
removed from their reservation. Only
n few years later, the Interior Depart
ment sent a special agent to the reser-
vation, to endeavor to persuade them
to move from Mile Laos to north Of
Leech Lake. There was quite a pow
WOW. and one Of the best known men
in Minnesota addressed a meeting Of
the chiefs. "My brothers." he said,
1.-The great father has heard how you
have been wronged, and he said, 4 will
send my red children an honest man
to talk to them SO he looked to the
north, to the east, the south, and the
west. and he said, Here is an honest
man. and he sent me. So, brothers,
look at me. The winds Of fifty-fve
years have blown over my head and
silvered it over with gray, and during
that time | have never done a wrong
to any man. l am your friend, my red
brothers. and as your friend l ask you
to sign this treaty" When he had fin
ished, one of the chiefs arose and said:
"My friend, look at me. The winds of
more than fifty winters have blown
over my head and silvered 1t over with
gray, but they have not blown my
brains away" Then he sat down, and
the council was ended.
A certain geography master in the
United Service College, in North Dew
on-the scenes of the schoolboy adven-
lures narrated in Rudyard Kipling's
"Stalky & Co."-greatly favored the
drawing Of sections of the earth's sur
face, showing the mountain ranges,
rivers, lakes. seas, strata, etc, which
were generally executed by his pupils
on sheets Of foolscap. At first the mas
ter was cOntented with quite ordinary
distances between two given points, as
from London to Edinburgh. but gradu-
ally he came to lengthen them to an
alarming extent-Chicago to Timbuc-
too. Cape Town to Moscow-which,
while 1t embarrassed the rest of the
boys, suggested a humorous idea to
Kipling. He procured several rolls of
wallpaper, and then day and night,
with pens and brushes, he labored dill
gently on a gigantic section, inserting
men, birds. beasts and fishes, trees-in
fact. anything he could think of, which
being at length completed to his salts
faction, Kipling calmly awaited the re-
suit When at last the geographical
master called for .that.SRr