Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-23

to say. they cannot be bought for any
amount of money. We pass native women
In the road carrying cheerfully heavy loads
of stone, their necks decorated with chains
OF two or four or eight anna bits some
times fifty or a hundred of them. They
have most beautiful hair. very thick and
glossy, usually worn in two loose braids.
They always salaam to the strangers and
sometimes stop to ask them questions or
make some cheerful remark to them. Fur
Their on We came across a small boy with
very large white cotton coat on, doing
nothing but initiating the notes of the
birds, which he did to perfection. first a
high shrill note then the deep and hoarse
croak OF an ancient crow who lives In a
tree back of the hotel.
We long to be able to talk to all the
cheerful brown people. most of whom
speak Hindustanee. but so far We can only
say, pointing to their necklaces, Bara
atchcha" very pretty, and then IL We
would like to buy the red and corneian
beads or the horoscope. ''Yih kitna hail."
which We fondly hope to mean. How
much is this?" The answer is probably
10 or II rupees, which we Know to be far
too much. so we look either severe or know
ing and say, Ma, ma. du rupees" making
the price rupees. Then comes a torrent
Of Hindustanee of which we are fortunate
II we understand six words. but after much
cheerful talk, the greater part of which
we have to look up in our phrase book
the spot, we secure the beads for rupees.
and are later on told by the German
lama" that they are not worth two and
some of them are Italian.
Around the Fire.
AS we have coy little sitting room
with coal fire dt ought to be wood. but
cannot be managedD we spend pleasant
evenings with the friends we have made In
the hotel and those who at times come from
the tea plantations or the environments
One of these was intimately acquainted
with Madame Blavatsky and although a
shrewd and level-headed person. had evil
IDENTIFY been under her influence to some
extent. In fact, We are told that his mar
riage, which has proved to be very I'M
happy, made through her "esoteric"
influence. He told us several stories of her
which we had not before heard. 1t seems
that one time when he, with several other
people, was spending the evening at her
apartment in Paris he happened to notice
her handkerchief, on which her name was
most beautifully worked. He said to her,
laughingly: You never did that old lady;
that is not in your line" but she promptly
answered that she had done 1t. ''What?"
he exclaimed. She looked rather bored
and said, Not with my hands, but my
powers" Thereupon he exclaimed incredu-
lousy. At that moment native gentle
man came up to say goodbye to her, one
whom she knew very slightly.
She Really Did It.
She clapped her handkerchief into his
hand as she shook II, and on taking ii
again the mans name-Abdul Rahman-
was found embroidered on the handker-
chief under her own. The native did not
at all understand what had been done and
not greatly interested. When he had
finished the story our friend the officer,
drew out the identical handkerchief, and
there were the two names, one below the
other. Seeing that we were greatly inter
ested, he told another curious expert
ence Madame Blavatskys secretary, Mr..
good friend of his and
they were at her house together one even
ing when Madame B. suddenly asked the
secretary If he had certain document
with him, something apparently of great
Importance. He said, of course not; that
1t was locked up in his safe in his mothers
house. She said she wanted 1T at once and
he said she couldn't have 1t; that the house.
was fully three miles away, and that 1t was
now past II She was petulant and cross
about it, and finally said she would have 1t.
She sat silent moment, thinking, and then
opened a brass tobacco box near by and
there was the document. The secretary
felt in his pocket for his keys and found
them. and he afterward inquired of his
mother and her household If anyone had
come for the paper. or If the safe had been
opened by anyone, and the answer TO Doth
questions was no. We were told one more
story of her powers, and one which inter-
ested US most of all. and then our friends
took leave. Madame Blavatsky had writ
ten an article for the societys publication.
at the head of which was verse signed
Alfred Tennyson. The secretary, who knew
his Tennyson. declared that he never wrote
such thing. Madame looked cross and
said: "Oh, go to helli'' for she seems to
have been a very coarse old person. He
then looked his Tennyson carefully over.
and told her again that there was no such
verse. Whereupon she said nothing, but
handed him bit of paper, on which was
written Gem, 1S-," a date in the early
part of the century. He went at once to :
the British Museum and inquired If Tenny
son ever wrote anything called the Gem"
and told the story. The answer was that
he did not, but that there was a magazine
published many years ago called the''Gem.'
and possibly it might be in that. They
looked up the date, and there they found
the verse, which must have been written in
Tennyson's very early young manhood.
MARGARET STERLING.
But one-sixth of the surface of Japan is
arabic.