The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-07-09


they sat solemn and critical while poor
Poe read the poem to them. Somehow,
in spite of his fascinating and unusual
rythm, the wall of the poet concerning
his "lost Lenore' fell on stony ground,
and this little audience voted against it.
But when Poe reluctantly admitted that
he was in desperate need of money on
his wife's account, SIS was collected
between them and given. not to Poe
himself-he was too uncertain guam
| tity where money was concerned but
to a woman friend 10 be spent for the
sick wife.
| A fashion has quite recently been in
troduced in London of printing on the
back of the visiting card a diagram OF
the residence of the owner and of the
neighboring streets. English country
house stationery has for some years
followed this plan, showing in the dia-
gram the nearest railway station and
plainly indicating the best road leading
therefrom to the desired residence. This
would strike anyone as a very sensible
idea, especially for a person whose
home was shut off from view by trees
or off from the beaten track of the main
roads. Almost everyone has had the
experience of hunting for the country
home Of friend. Armed with the most
exact and minute directions, we sally
| forth with high hopes and no thought
of failure. Matters, however, gradually
assume quite tragic proportions, and
after wandering around in the hot sun
or the chilly blasts of Winter. according
| to the season, and going miles out of
our way, we finally turn up in no very
amiable spirit at the house of our SUI
burban friend. All this would have
been prevented by the excellent English
custom of the neat little diagram on
our note of invitation, for the most
elaborate verbal directions cannot COM
pare with something like a map, by
means of which the memory may be
refreshed. The visiting card diagram
is a good idea, too, for in many cities
the houses are numbered in such a way
as to be puzzling to anyone not familiar
with the locality Even in Washing
ton, where the system of house number
ing is most simple as well as the general
plan of the city, the avenues seem to
throw the stranger out terribly, and
such a custom as that adopted by our
English cousins would be a great boon
to the many visitors who enter more or
less into the social life of the Capital
City every Winter.
Some doctor has made us feel rather
really insane people are holding posi-
tions of importance and responsibility,
who are, of course, considered by the
community as perfectly sane. To think
of placing our lives in the care of an
insane railroad employe, or some law
case in which the honor of our good
name is concerned in the hands of an
insane lawyer, is not a pleasant thought,
and yet, according to this medical man,
that &c what iS liza h1a fn He has
been appalled, by the number of such
who have finally turned up in the asy-
lums. While a severe physical exami-
nation is required of the applicant for
certain positions, the mental condition
is never looked into nor questioned. 1t
is well known that person may be
mentally unbalanced, entirely too much
so to be given any position of RESPONSE
bility, who may yet appear about like
other people; at all events his sanity is
never doubted. Insanity is said to be
on the increase in our country, and
methods to check this are already under
way. The New York State Lunacy
Commission has decided to erect a re-
ception hospital near New York, where
those who have the awful fear that
their minds arc affected can go for
examination without being clapped into
an asylum for treatment. Insanity can
enough, and if people would heed the
first warnings of nature. which they
would be much more likely to do If
there were some such place as this re-
ccption hospital where they could go
and be quietly examined, the number
committed to our asylums annually
would be decidedly less. 81
Mabelle Gilman, whom, it will be re-
membered, William E. Corey, President
of the United States Steel Corporation,
obtained a divorce from the wife of
his youth in order to marry, has an
nounced her intention of building an
opera house in Paris at which none but
American artists will appear. In con-
nection with this she is to start school
of operate art, where it will be made
possible for impecunious American stu
dents of both sexes to receive the best
instruction and be otherwise helped in
their professional careers. great
many of our girls and boys, for in most
cases they are hardly more than that,
go to Paris every year to fit themselves
for the operate stage, and the stories
that come to us of what those poor girls
and boys undergo in their struggle to
obtain this training and education, liv-'
ing in attics in the Latin Quarter, with
hardly enough to cat, etc, has made
many Americans conscious for long
time that something ought to be done
for them. Mrs. Corey knows all about
this, since she herself spent some time
in Paris before her marriage studying
for the operate stage, and she deter
mined then, il she was ever able, to
help these poor girls and young men.
Jean de ResZke, the celebrated tenor,
who left the stage several years ago
and has since devoted himself to teach
ing, is to have charge of both the school
and opera house. Mrs. Corey is to put
about $100.000,000 into the building.
the site of which has been chosen. Mr..
Corey is in sympathy with her plan.
And now we women are to have hats
that harmonic with or match our
souls. 1t is a pretty and interesting
idea, If, perhaps, little difficult to
digest all at once. The high priestess
of this new thot this soul milliner, Is
to quite revolutioniZe things in the mil
linery world. So far there is only one
of her and she is in New York, and her
charges are said to be something so,
tremendous as to momentarily take
modest purse. This milliner's artistic
soul has been sorely tried for many
years by seeing her sex parading about
in hats so frightfully unsuited to them
as to appear grotesque. That it was
not entirely a question OF becoming
ness she realized, for in many
cases the hat itself would be "a
perfect dream" and as far as the
color was concerned would suit the
wearer perfectly. yet something was
wrong, and this original milliner be-
gan to look deeper for the true
meaning, finally becoming convinced