davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15
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gain once more, In the form Of what We
term the colonial style.
Following this came q period when our
architects, having lost the academic
knowledge which some of their prede-
cessors possessed. set out in quest of
originality, with the result which few
OF us can contemplate without horror
in which every wild extravaganza of a
distorted brain was given shape in stone
or brick and mortar. To this period be-
long the enormities of the Mansard roof
and Queen Anne buildings; the brick Or
stone public buildings with their terra
Gotta or their variegated ornamentation-
such, for example, as the old National
Museum in the government grounds Of
this city, whose disastrous effects have
remained even to our present day, and
may be witnessed by any one who cares
to look at the State. War aud Navy
building, with its multitudinous spindling,
cylindrical columns and its small. COM
monplace windows; or at the city post
office structures, which, though Of
granite. lack every element OF dignity and
of harmony.
But from these depths we have emerged
since, like snowy exhalation, the white
city arose beside Lake Michigan some
fifteen years ago, called into being by
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

the genius of American architects-and
today the American capital bids fair to
become. beneath their touch, the most
beautiful capital that the world has
known since the Parthenon first looked
down on the Ionian sea.
In painting, too, We have advanced.
With little encouragement our painters
have vowed themselves to art, and are
today-both portrait and landscape paint
ers-among the foremost in the world.
But to return to sculpture. notwith-
standing the folly of legislation. and the
horrors of Statuary Hall. we have pro-
duced work. which will bear comparison
with that of any other country in mod
ern times. 1 will speak OF one who Is but
now passed away, leaving behind him
works to which America. when chal-
lenged by the censor to show the fruit of
her civilization as manifested in her art.
may point with confidence that it will
be accepted in every age and every cline.
Whatever the Judgment of the ages may
be as to this work or that, Augustus st.
Gaudens has with his chisel carved his
name with those who are immortal.
Not all his work seems to me to be on
the same high plane. All shows marks
of the wonderful gifts with which nature
endowed him; but it was when he was
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

own account and thus to help the govern
ment. and penalty ought to be imposed
on every property owner or occupant VINO
knowingly harbOrs rats.
The virus poison seems to be the
method most in favor. This virus was
the discovery OF DIR. Jean Danysz OF the
Pasteur Institute in Paris. who observed
on one occasion that there was unusual
mortality among the rats in the district
where he was working. After many ex-
periments he was able to isolate and
cultivate the bacillus Of the disease. The
rat who eats the infected food becomes
feverish, rushes out TO seek water and
dies in the open. Sometimes he snfects
his friends. and often he spreads the
disease by serving as food for his cam
nibal fellows. The disease is conmuni-
cable only to animals of the rodent tribe
Ordinary domestic animals are immune
to it. But DR. Danysz's London repre-
sentative declined to make any estimate
of the cost of Kidding England of rats.
Sir. James Crichton- Browne also de-
X II
1t was when England woke up lately
and read in he- morning newspapers
such headlines as Black Death in Suf-
folk" and Plague Returns to Eng
land and realized that four persons had
Qleu lTCEn the terrible SCOuIse Which uc-
populated London In the middle ages
and still carries off millions OF people
in India and China that the government
began to think something nad to be done
to eXterninate the rat For years scien-
fists had been preaching against the
vermin, but their sermons fell on I'M
needing ears. The national government
did nothing, and the local authorities did
less Here and there a farmer whose
barns had been invaded by the Creatures
employed terriers and ferrets Or laid
down q little poison, but the rats con-
tinued to flourish.
But 1t took four deaths to make the au-
thorities awake to the danger, and even
then they probably would not have real
ICED 1t IL a wide-awake doctor who had
been reading about plague had not recog-
nized the symptoms. To their credit, be
it said. however, that as soon as they
learned that four persons had died OF
plague within couple OF hours journey
OF London they became active. Scientists
were hurried down to the affected district
by the local government board. The local
authorities were stirred up. and the local
government board gave them power to
spend any money nece-sirJ to deal with
the situation. Battues OF rats were or
ganised and people were warned not to-
eat rabbits or hares or other ground game
In the Affected districts.
DIR. Arthur Newsholme. chief medical
officer to the board. whose position cor
responds to that Of . national health Of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

foolish imposition on art. the artistic
sense of our people Is steadily growing.
Should we begin with literature l am
able to give much encourageme to our
patriotic pride. Our best man in all de-
partments of literature belonged to a past
generation. and the best We have now are
only respectable How far the RESPONSE
bility for this is TO be charged to a lack
of genius. and how far to the soul-sub-
DUNG carker of commercialism, l shall
leave you to say.
In architecture we have done better. If
a hundred years ago Thomas Jefferson
inveighed with hot words against an ar
chitecture which looked as though the
genius of malevolence had spread his
works over the land in the hideous archi-
lecture which disgraced us, what would
he have thought of the depths to which
we had fallen a half century later!
In the beginning our public architects
wrought under the dominion of nigh
conception of public art. The great minds
which were the architects of this great
government dedicated in it's elemental
simplicity TO the ideals of government by
the people would appear to have been in
formed by spirit which extended itself
in every direction of human activity.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

in certain places as being only the rep
resentative of bulk and of bigness has
justified itself in the minds of all who
have lived within sight OF 1t. In the
sunshine and in the shadow. in the glow
of the sunrise and of the sunset, in the
light of the moon. and when the driving
clouds hang low in the winter evenings.
ii wears, like the sea. an ever-changinS
and impressive face No one can live
long in Washington and not fall under
the spell of its majesty. 1t Is fitting that
il should be the greatest one monument
built by human hands. for il is the
monument of the greatest one man who
has blessed the human race with the
simple majesty and loftiness of his life
Take a step farther, go to that round
hall in the CAPITOL at Washington known
as Statuary Hail. Significant and admit
rable nomenclature, And gaze if YOU can
with unshaded eyes upon the frishtful
collection OF marble effigies which are
classed properly under the simple ge-
neric name of ''statuary.' Even the most
patriotic sentiment of the most devoted
American cannot view that collection
without a shudder at the grotesqueness
of that group of men. who, it may we'll
be said. have reserved better at the hands
Of their countrymen.
That some are good, and one or two
even fine. MAY well be admitted, but
jumbled together as they are in every
freak of modern dress. of every size from
pigmies 20 giants. they present together a
terrifying spectacle of what the best of
this country is aole to achieve The good
are ,belittlsd by the mean. without being
able TO lift the latter from the low level
OF their insienificance.
Reflection is necessary for the awaken
ing of the sense of beauty. Pans pipes
are heard only in the vale or on the hill
side. far from the rush and roar of
strife commercial or militant. To pro-
duce art there must be art in the atmOS-
phere. but we have it not.
But there is graver and far less
honorable reason than this: our CONNER
cialism-the sad fact that our people and
gradually our national character have
become stepped in the soul-destroying cal
dron of commercialsm. The exaction of
the struggle for supremacy over the vast
wild of the continent was a reasonabl
and not ignoble reason for the sacrifice OF
art The men who bore the standard
across the continent had much that was
heroic in their mold. But they took with
them the household gods of the houses
trey had left. and Gid not forget their
sideals even when the forest and the fur
row swallowed up their energies.
But in this later time the heroic has
wholly vanished and our energies are
wholly engrossed and exhausted in the
struggle for sheer money, and still for
money-not for its power to purchase,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15
The AVERAGE 5o1DaERS NoNur1ENT fkEstNrs,
HIGft IN AIR, The NETtER,s01DE ora f1oUGh HORSE

Architecture itself was elevated thereby
and following on the heavy, ugly and
grotesque Georgian period came a re-
awakening of the classical spirit which
manifested itself in this country in many
beautiful and some grand public build
ings. Among them. to confine myself only
to this city, I might cite the Capitol which
crowns the Capitol Hill and which is the
most impressive building on the continent
and one of the most impressive in all the
world-certainly, l can recall nothing
more beautiful than the wings of the
Capitol, which in harmonious beauty are
equal to anything that l have ever seen.
/ might cite the Treasury building and
the White House: the old patent office
and the courthouse; or. II we may go
elsewhere and select other. than govern
ment buildings. there rises before my
mind that wonderful expression of the
genius of Jefferson, where. seated on the
Virginia hills. the University of Virginia
rests ike a dream of classic beauty. dis
tihguished after hundred years by its
harmonious proportions and it's cloistral
and academic charm. There grew up, in
deed, throughout the country spirit
which manifested itself in municipal and
in private buildings in harmony which.
having lost, We are struggling back to re-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

the cases of blague in Suffolk owed theis
origin to a rat which had come ashors
from one of the Russian grain ships that
come up the Orwell 10 Ipswich. That
rat probably infected others and Tin,
first victim, little girl. may have picked
up dead rat which had died from tho
plague and been bitten by a flea from il
for IL is the characteristic flea which hvei
on the rat that really transmits the
plague. The child contracted the dis.
ease in its most virulent form-the pneu.
monic-and she in turn transmitted il Il
her mother, vino proba bly, inhaled SONS
of the germs while bending over her
Then the woman's husband died and then
a neighbor who nursed him. That Seems
to have exhausted the infection. At first
the cases were returned as simply pneu.
monia, but keen local man found the
plague bacillus and warned us. I'm.
fortunately by the time we were able q
OBTAIN specimens for examination ~ he
bacillus had disappeared. but there Hcn
plague. J y
Since then we have been doing every,
thing In our power to guard against any
fresh outbreak. Rats are being killed
wholesale by the local authorities. and by
the farmers and landowners. and our ex.
perts are on the scene advising and help
ing. That is really all the central Cow
ernment can do at present Hundreds Of
dead rats are sent to us for examination.
and we have warned the local authorizes
all over England to watch for any un<'
usual mortality among the rats and send
us specimens at once. So far the only
unusual mortality we have heard OF Is in
the districts where they are being killed
by the inhabitants"
X sae
Stringent precautions are being taken
at the ports, and the health authorities
recently issued a set of rules making obs :
ligatory the precautions taken by most
responsible shipowners to prevent rata
landing from ships arriving from foreisnv
ports. These regulations direct that ira "a
be employed to prevent rats running
along the hawsers from ships TO the
shore, and impose a fine OF twenty-five
dollars on any shpmaster convicted OF
allowing these undesirable aliens to land.
or course a good deal is done already
by private enterprise. Most farmers keen
terriers and ferrets to keep their barna
clear. and occasionally they employ Q
professional rat-catcher. In the London
tubes and underground railways a stafY OF
men is kept at work constantly laying
down virus and collecting the bodies OF
dead rats.
But in spite of IL all the rat stil -four
ishes and a good many people believe
that even a national st. Bartholomew
will do him no more harm in the long ruI,
than the original ST. Bartholomew did
to the cause of Professionalism. Ii may be
bad for the rat martyrs. but enough viii
remain to raise up the tribe again.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

ficer. mapped out campaign of warning
to all the local authorities in England.
Medical officers all over the country were
instructed to look out for unusual NOR
tally among the rats and to report ii at
once. DIR. Robert Bruce Low, DIR. News
holmes chief assistant, was given per-
sonal charge of the campaign. and In his
office in Whitehall today hangs a map
dotted with little red flags showing every
spot in England where case of human
plague has been found or where plague
affected rat has been picked UP. So
far there have been only four human
cases. and about q dozen rats and four
hares have been found that had died from
the dread disease.
But the scare has been enormous. DR..
Low said that on the day after the an
of the deaths he was over
whelmed by telephone inquiries, and A
few minutes after he arrived at his Office
an eminent West End physician rushed
in to ask his advice. This man had been
consulted by woman patient who had
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15
THOMAS MLsoNP PAGE

untra mme,ed with the eNactions OF por
traiture that his spirit scared.
In Washington. i'm a cemetery sur.
rounded by cedars and cypress steepet
in profound calm. sits figure. hooded
and mysterious. gazing with face turned
to the setting sun into the profound and
mystical depths of life-past present and
to come To each soul IL speaks and te
that sum of all souls-humanity. Ii ID
the modern sphynx. and all we know IL
that 1t symbollzes the universal question
of life.
Should future gene -ations demand oil
us what we have done i'm art-there sit,
our answer. We have done that-and
me judice. no other people in moders
times have equaled 1t.
1t has been publicly noted By Ruskir
and less publicly by every one who Ina,
thought seriously on the subject that tn,
best that man does i'm the high field
of art is only the elaboration of thai
which he absorbed in his youth. IL u
owing TO this fact that the Italian ma,
for generations stood to as the rep
resentative Of art. The boy Giotto gras
ing his sheep on the surface OF the rock
is the significant expression OF youth
STEPPED for centuries in the atmosphere
of art. even though IL were decadent art
The treasures of the Vatican. the Pitte
the Uffizzi. the Prado. the Dresden Gal.
lery. the Louvre, the Luxembourg and
indeed, of every gallery are the works Oh
men not one In twenty of whom would
ever have been heard of If they hae
lived in America under our systems oil
art exclusion and commerce enthroning
Go to the mining district and you vii
find children playing at mining go 70 the
region about the roundhouses of on
railways and you will find them makins
up trains; beside the sea they sail rune
craft. In Italy and wherever the lignl
of classical beauty still sheds its glow
they paint and mold and carve. Thes
have a long start on us I'm all that goe.
to make men artists. and We pen in QUA
genius and bid them continue To out.
strip US in the race.
/ believe the time will come as surely
as we continue a nation when the Amer.
lean people will develop a great artistic
sense. When the American people de-
yelop a sense they generally put IL int
operation. for they are practical peopl
as well as an ideaistic people. And whef
the people shall feel this artistic inffu'
ence-when mems hearts shall respond
to the higher call OF art, as they are be.
see TO il that art is no longer banned
and barred from this country-tnat Ar1
shall have here new land in which e
expand as liberty has had. Then ART
shall have the opportunity to perform hei
proper function to lift the people of TIM
country from the slough of commercial
ism into which we have 10 some extent
sunk, into that high region where mar
SHALL with his face to heaven. advance
along the lines which God has opened foi
him. and progress with heart and intel
lect and with imagination.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

even the most stringent precautions will
not prevent some OF them landing.
The rat is the most cunning animal
alive" he said THE usual method OF
preventing him from coming ashore Is 10
fix on all the hawsers connecting snip
with the land traps In the shape OF In
running along the rope will run his head
into this and be unable to get further.
But l saw a photograph not long ago
showing rat in the act OF jumping over
one of these traps. The cunning old beast
probably had been checked once and mad
gone back to try again.
Then YOU must remember that under
favorable conditions one pair Of rats will
produce 800 descendants in one year
They have four to six filters. each num-
bering from eight to dozen in the year,
and the young rats begin to breed at six
months old Favorable circumstances
mean plenty of food. 1t is q notorious
fact that when food is scarce either the
rat doesn't set up housekeeping. or per-
haps the infant mortality is SO large the
population is kept down. A hungry rat
WILL eat his own young.
Wherever there is grain We must eX-
pect to find rats. and all we can do is to
keep them down. The real reason the
ancient Egyptians worshiped the cat
was that II killed the rats. Egypt in those
days was the granary of the world and it
was. in consequence. infested with rats.
ii was a crime to kill a cat. because the
cat was the only means known of keep
ing down the rats. In these days we
have other methods; the most hopeful
seems 10 be the virus system of poison,
of which there are several forms This
poison, which is simply culture Of the
bacillus of virulent- rat disease, Is
spread on suitable food and left for the
rat to eat. He becomes infected and
dies after having infected a number of
his friends. But we must encourage every
living thing tina. wars on the rat, and
here gamekeepers in England have been
much to blame. The gamekeeper wars
on hawks kestrels. owls and other birds
of prey. One owl will account for TWEEN
ty rats in one night and the damage that
it does to game Is infinitesimal Weasels,
stoats and all other enemies Of the rat
must be encouraged
"As an example of what can be done I
may mention an experiment we made on
the island Of Little Cumbra. In the Clyde.
1t was infested with rats. but it was
cleared absolutely. They will come again.
however, for rats have been known to
swim in thousands for long distances In
search of food. They also will migrate
from one. district where they are attack
ed to another, and for this reason
have no faith in isolated efforts to ex-
terminate them The war must be q ma
tional one to do any good. II we attack
them in Middlesex they move on to
Hertfordshire and so on. The only ef-
fective attack Is one which leaves them
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

grain day. To be on the safe side, he
takes IL that each wild rat in England
eats about half that quantity OF gram.
Competent authorities have estimated
there il at present at least one rat 10
each cultivated acre in the kingdom. There
are 40.G03C00 cultivated acres, so the cal
culation furnishes us with the astontsh-
ing total o. about So, OO0,HD year which
England pays for the privilege of feeding
rats on grain alone.
No account is taken in this calculation
of the other damage which they do. For
instance, one wholesale dry goods man
wrote a short time ago 10 the Society for
the determination of Vermin that rats
had got into his warehouse and destroyed
silk worth 500 in one. night. They enter
brick drains and eat through their sides
into buildings, putting householders to
untold expense for repairs They destroy
eggs and young chickens, and in the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

cent for. rat skins, and I am told the
thrifty Japanese imported them In ship
loads. The government kept ION paying
the reward and when the Russo apa-
nese war began il served out TO its SOL
diers beautiful fur caps. gloves and ear
muffs made from the skins. That is the
only instance L ever heard OF the rat
being Of any use.
1T il time. too, that America and Cam
ada were doing something to deal with
this pest. They are both grain countries,
and they both have been invaded. My
latest reports show the rat has reached
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

when he came to drive out the Stuart
kings. They conquered the native and
comparatively harmless black rat of Eng.
land as thoroughly as William conquered
the Jacobites, and today the black rat
Is found only i'm few isolated districts.
One OF Sir James suggestions IL that
useful work might be found for the un-
employed in killing rats. and he helisTes
IL the thing could be undertake a
proper scale the rat could ne 60 ...der
control In a single winter lie believes
every farmer and Householder 'ught To
be encouraged to carry on the ~ on his
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-15

Missouri in force in his western invasion
OF the United States. and no doubt his
outposts have pushed even farther from
the coast In Canada the invader is re-
ported i'll Manitoba"
Adherents of the old regime may be in
terested to know that the brown rat which
infests England at present is known as the
Hanoverian rat. The progenitors OF the
tribe are said to have come over in the
ship which brought William of Orange