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The Exeter Advocate, 1896-12-10, Page 7/JOUR OTTAWA LETTER A GOSSIPY LETTER FROM THE CAPITAL. tanner anti a Title—Tarelfl' Com nission— Beciproeity With this U. S. --Tho, Stormont ' Election ---The Spoils System --Trade With - s Great BrItatn--The School Bill. (From Our Own Corrtlepondent.) Ottawa, Dee. 1.—It is not so long sluee Sir Oliver Mowut's acceptance of a title evoked the disapprobation of some gentlemen high in the Liberal ranks, The gentlemen who objected held that in this country the democratic feeling ofthe people was against the aoceptance of any title by Canadians. Sir Oliver antagon- ized these Jeffersonians, but whether to the extent of losing any of their votes for the Liberal party, is very problemati- cal. And now we hear that Hon. Wilfrid Laurier has been offered the accolade. ,His predecessors, Hon, Alexander Macken- zie and Hon. Edward Blake, declined the honor. Mackenzie said with charac- teristic bluntness that Canada was no place for Knights, belted or otherwise, Mr. Blake refused knighthood because he conceived that tie was serving his party's best interests by so doing. But now the Liberals have attained power, and Mr. Laurier, whose leanings are towards the aristocratic side of the peopie,may see.no reoason why ho should not become Sir Wilfrid. The Premier is far from being en ultra -Democrat. He believes ire the political equality of all oitizens,but be would laugh at the idea of social equality. With him he has in his Cabinet Sir Riehard Cartwright,who has all of the testes,the manner and the con, victions of the old-time British Whig, He has no love for republican institu- tions, although he is a friend of the Americana Doubtless Sir Richard will advise Mr. Laurier to a000pt the honor. Few of us will make objection to the Premier's being dubbed a Knight. He may with honor to himself gladly accept the honor that was prized by such makers of the nation as Macdonald, Cartier, Donlon, Campbell, Bowell and 'Tupper. The honor will not be so much personal as it will be the result of his holding the position of Premier. Since the days after the Mackenzie regime every Cana- dian Prime Minister has been a Knight or has been created one shortly after his receiving the seals of office. The Tarin' Commission. The peripatetic gentlemen of the Tariff Commission resumed. their wanderings this week. Much to their disgust, they have continued to receive evidence going jo show that protection has caused the netitution of new mercantile ventures kn many parts of the country. Mr, Field- ing's menacing and minatory advice to Mr. Fearivan, that he "might well feel anxious," has caused great unrest in the mercantile community. The farmers will feel the result iu a short time. This is the time of year for the annual purchase of hogs. The pork packers usually begin to ilii their warehouses at this season of the year. So far they have made few put - aliases. They will take no risk of losing thousands of dollars by having the Canadian market floodea with the pro- duct of American pork packing estab- lishments,All they hope for is that the gentlemen of the Commission will soon snake up their minds. The late Artennus Ward well said, in luminous illustration of his own case, that be must have a great deal of mind as it sometimes took him half an hour to make it up. I do not know whether this distinguished ex- ample will be considered by the travel- ing Ministers to have any intimate hear- ing upon the ramifications of the great general subject of the tariff. The unde- sirable featnre about the present case is that according to Mr. Fielding's own avowal, his mind, great or little, rs made up already. He faces the manufacturers, mot as an inquirer after the truth, but as a sort of political Judge Jefferies, who considers all the manufacturers to be prisoners at the bar, who will be limey if they get through the Bloody Assizes with their necks unstretched. Some cul- prits there are who have something of the wisdom of serpents. Witness the -tanners, who were on trial the other day. These gentlemen told the Commission- ers that certain industries had been es- tablished 1u Canada solely because their owners had been prevented by our duties from manufacturireg in the United tates and shipping into Canada. Fur- ther than that the tanners asserted that such duties are by no means irriconcila- ble with good Liberal anti -Protection views. A report of the tanner's meeting states that:— "The tanners, who, as Mr. Beardmore expressed it, are 'unfortunately all Grits,' do not believe in protection, hut protest that if the tau ning industry is to continue in this country there must be some means taken to offset the Ameri- can tendency to fill the Canadian market with their surplus at a price below cost." As our esteemed friends and fellow- , citizens the tanners are "all Grits" they cannot by any possibility be protection- ists. That would be impossible. No; they desire a suitable tariff, not to pro- tect them, of course, but to ' offset the American tendency to fill the Canadian market with their surplus at a price be- low cost." What the tanners would in- sist upon would be the instant and heavy punishment of any Tory varlet who shnnid have the audacity to call these "menus to offset" the Yankees a pro- tective schedule. Thus do the tanners able dialecticians and sophists as well as business men, describe a spade as a use- ful agricultural implement. Protection under any other name will do as well. If the Ministers desire to do the right thing by their friends the tanners they 'will hearken to their prayer. The Coin missioners have probably decided by this time that the abstract trade doctrines of their party are all right, but that when the Grit business man has to face con- crete facts; he usually follows the dollars. Er' many Conservatives are there now who once were described as being "Na- tional National Policy Grits?" These gentlemen, in the years after 1878, saw clearly that on the fiscal issue was the great .line of cleavage'between the two. parties; they saw that protection was sending the 'Country ntr ahead, that the Liberate r had made a dismal failure of their adminis- tration, and they joined the Conservtivo ddarty. The Liberal Government will rive many more into the Conservative reeks if they attempt any more tariff tinkering, The effort to scare the people with the Protection bogey has been un- successful. They have been told that though, for instance, they were getting sugar more cheaply than in the United States, the sugar eombine was growing rioh on the money filched front the con- sumer. Naturally enough the consumer declined to Leconte mad with rage be- cause some business men were becoming richer. He looked at his grocer's bill,and found that he got more sugar for his money tha ,he received under Mocken- zie, But the Liberal press continued to hammer at the sugar refiners. They were eombinesters, they were grinding monopolists who grew fat on money wrung from the people, All of which was read with appreciation by their good Liberal readers, who would be the first to object if the price of sugar went up. And now we find that the Acadia sager refinery, one of the three great sugar concerns in the country, lost $24,000 in the last year, The figures were made public at the annual meeting of the shareholders. One gentleman demanded the reason for the unsuccessful showing. The manager replied that in order to hold the company's customers he had been compelled to sell at a loss, as the Redpath refinery of Montreal was cut- ting rates. But how is that? Are we not assured by every Liberal stumper and, by every Liberal editor that there is no coin - petition under protection; that as soon as outside competition is rendered im- possible the protective manufacturers, like the Forty Thieves, retire to their cave, and there arrange the details of their plans to extort money from the people? . And here we find two of those manufacturers, two of these "protected highwaymen," as the diplogistio Cart- wright calls them, cutting, not the con- sumer's throat, but their own rates. Economic theories are useful. A com- plete acquirement of their minutie en- ables some of us to secure our , univer- sity degree. And then we go into the world, to find that the writers on politi- cal economy are dealing with an abstract and impossible worlds As Walter Bags- hot has said: "They are like physiolo- gists who have never dissected; like as- tronomers who have never seen the stars and in consequence, just when they seem to be reasoning at their best. their knowledge of the facts falls short." That sentence might have been written of Mr. Laurier—in his Free Trade incarnation —of Sir Richard and of Mr. Fielding. According to all their theories—and by the same token If they 'got the ear of you or I they would soon convince us, looking at the proposition as an abstract one, that the protected manufacturers of Canada are a sort of Vehingheriet—ao- aording to all their theories, I say, the 'sugar men should he stowing away money every year. They should settle the prices and then sit down to see the coin roll in. That is the theory. The cold fact is that one protected manufacturing concern has been compelled to drop $24,000 in one year because another com- pany in the sumo business has success- fully competed against it. If the Minis• ters do want a genuine combine let them throw off the protection, let them close up our Canadian factories and deliver us into the hands of the United States Sugar 'Trust. Then the people of Canada will find out to their cost just what the less of protection means, The Stormont Election. The constituency of Cornwall, Stor- mont -Cornwall, which was represented by Dr. Bergin for so many ;nears, is open. It has been invaded by scores of Liberal workers, who are putting in their best efforts towards winning the seat for Mr. Snetzinger, the Government candidate. The Patrons have a oandidailti in the person of Mr. Adams, while the Conservative standard-bearer is Mr. Leitch, The Liberal heelers are telling the factory hands of the town of Corn wall that they have nothing to fear from the new Government, that the cotton in- dustry will not he interfered with and that ter voting against the Government candidate they will be injuring their own interests. The people of Cornwall are being assured that the Government's course in respect of the canals near the town will he dictated solely by the re- sults of the election. In fact the same tactics are being used as in North Grey, where Hon. A. S. Hardy, the Premier of the impeccable Ontario Cabinet, preached the gospel of vote selling. Mr. Hardy, you will remember, addressed the people of Owen Sound in these words: "I am not talking politics, but business. I want to know what you Owen Sound- ers have to lose by electing Mr. Pater- son? What have you to gain by electing Mr. McLauchlan? Some of you say 'Nothing.' That is the point you must keep before you. Snail Owen Sound stagnate for years to come, or will you put yourselves in a position to be in sympathy with the Government?" Mr Hardy would be of use in Cornwall just now, for the Liberals are meeting with small success in their campaign. They are doing their best to induce the Patron candidate to withdraw. Offers of a con- sideration have bean made to Mr.Adams, but his friends, who are genuine Patrons and who have no affiliation with either party, insist that be shall stay in the field. No matter what the upshot is, the probabilities are that the Conser- vative candidate will be successful. The constituency is Conservative, and will rennin so. The bait of the Govern- ment loaves and fishes will not entice the sturdy Cornishmen from their allegi- ance to the old party. In the few months that have passed since the general elec- tion they, like thousands of other Cana- dians, have seen that the new men are not qualified for the posts which they hold. The Opposition forces are 'making a strong and enthusiastic campaign. The Spoils System. Here in Ottawa we hear strange rumors of more decapitations in the Civil Service. Israel Tarte commenced by announcing that in his department no man' would be • discharged unless be was shown to be an unnecessary official. After making which pronouncement Air.' Tarte discharged forty employes in the inside service of the Public Works De- partrnent and installed sixty good Grits, The stream of place hunters continues. From all quarters of the country they clone. 'The other day Frank Pedley, a well-known Liberal campaigner of To- ronto, came to the Capital with the avowed object of impressing upon the Postmaster -General the urgent necessity of "remembering" some forty, Toronton- lane who worked. for the Liberal cancli-, dates in that city. Barrister Pedley evi- dently believed with one William Shakes- peare that. "New -made honor doth forget men's names," for be 'handed to. Mr. Mulook o list ' of deserving applicants, with the political history of each duly set forth. Mr. Muiock will probably se- cure the loan of Mr. Torte's axe for the Purpose , of obliging the insistent Mr. Pedley, Of course Mr. Mniock has already shown that,he is something of a`loeade• man himself, although Mr. Tarte is the Monsieur() Paris of the Government, It is Put so long since "Mr. Airlock can- celled Mr. B. G. Dixon's license.to soli stamps in the post (lice at T'oroAuo. :1 he reason that was given in pa.uatien of,, this adoption of the spoils system was that Mr. Dixon was a fairly well-off man, Now we have the cisc of tho Widow Morton,who hold a similar ,priv:i- lege in the post -office at St. John, \: 13. Mrs. Morton's,sole means of support was the three hurtdreil dollars which she annually cleared from, the sale of staitepe, She bad -enjoyed the privilege since th, death of her husband some years a:! , 'ant was bringing up a family of children on the pittance that I have mentioned. A few weeks ago one Connoliy,a Liberal worker and civic employe in St. john, cast an envious eye on Mrs. Morton's little stamp counter. He applied for the privilege and ho got it Mrs. Morton is dispossessed, she and her children are without means of support, ant Mr. Connolly, who is well paid as a civic' servant, has secured a comfortable addi- tion to his yearly income. As 7ol.n Ross Robertson said in his great speech when he denounced in Parliament Bull's ad vocacy of the spoils system: "l.f these methods are to be introduced leer) the administration of this county: all I veil say is `God help the Dominion of Can ada.' The safeguards of our constitution will be swept away, unit our polities will be degraded into a petty squabble over the right to peddle out offices " If the Morton ease is not one of peddling oat office I beg to acknowledge that the Groat Dipper is a five cent tin cup, Reciprocity with the United States. In a newspaper interview published the other day Mt'. Fielding is reported as saying that the Administration "will continuo its efforts towards obtaining reciprocity with the United States." "Continue its efforts" is good. Sn far we have not been informed that any efforts in this direction have been, made. True, Mr. Fielding visited Row York on a pleasure trip. He acknowledged, on his return, that he had not spoken to any important United States politicians on the question. And now we are told that the Government will continue its efforts in the direction of securing reciprocity. If Canada can obtain anything like an equitable measure of reciprocity let the Administration give it to us. Canadi- ans would not object if a convention on the lines of this Elgin treaty were ne- gotiated. By that treaty Canada got ale most all she could desire. Let the Laur- ier Administration give us something like it, and the country will be satisfied. The Ministers know right well that they can give us nothing of the kind. They talked for years about what they would do if they should attain power.. And now they give the country nothing but promises and menaces. Trade With Great Britain. From old London one hears that the Prime Minister and Sir Richard will visit England in the spring to confer with the Imperial Ministers upon the subjects of assisted immigration, the fast Atlantic line, and the improvement of the fortifications on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada. When I men- tioned the rumor to Mr. Laurier this morning he said that it was prohablo that he would visit England in the near future. He declined to give any inform- ation concerning the objects of his visit. It is tolerably certain, though, that the statement that the subject of fortifica- tions will be dealt with by any Com- missioner whom we may sand over. De• spite Sir Richard's antipathy to the pro- ject of Imperial Trade Federation, the people of Canada on this as on other subjects, have the ill taste to disagree with him. They know that Canada and the Empire would both be benefitted by the Mother Country's catering into a trade agreement with her colonies. The colonial trade wit* the United Kingdom has shown a marked increase since '93. Canada, in the Imrorial trade returns, does not get proper credit for the value of goods exported and imported by her to` and from Britain for the reason that much of the trade is done via United States ports. This trade is invariably reported by the Imperial authorities as being with the Americans. I am told by gentlemen who know whereof they' speak that the Dominion in this way annually loses credit for over ten million dollars worth of trade each way. Let Mr. Laurier show, as he can show, if he wants to, that Preferential Trade will pay Hug• land, and the Imperial authorities -will take up the plan. Its benefits to the col- onies are undeniable, although New South Wales ceelines to see it in that light It is said that if Britain imposed a duty of five or ten per cent. upon the products of foreign countries coming into England so as to favor the colonies, these countries would retaliate. As Sir Charles Tupper has pointed out, these countries already have sky -scraping tariff walls. They have no gratitude, and have no claim to consideration. What has the United States done? In the year 1590 the Americans sent $94,000,000 worth •of goods into England without paying a ha'penny in duties and only purchased in return $32,000,000, Uncle Sam wasn't satisfied with exchanging thirty-two mil- lion for ninety-four million. He sat him down and devised the MelSiniey bill with the object of injuring British trade, of hurting Canada and other colonies, Be oven launched a blow at the British West Indies by exchanging' their goods by means of special rates, if they did not discriminate against Great Britain and in favor of the United States. The unfortunate Islanders had to lower their tariff at the command of Major McKin- ley, and it was estimated that their loss while the McKinley not was in, force amounted nearly to $35,000 annu- ally. We have seen what the Americans are ready to do ; why not try our best to obtain preferential treatment from the Old Lied. One does not need to be a prophet to see that "the times that try men's souls" may not be far off. Any- thing that will make the more perfect in- tegration of the Empire will aid that Empire's members. , Tia School Bill. The astute Mr: Laurier has neglected a certain formality in respect of the set- tlement of the School question. The famous Remedial Order is still in force, It is quite as capable of being made operative as ever it was. Why does not Mr. Laurier rescind it? We are comPelled to believe that he holds it in reserve until Mr. Greenway makes good his pledges to satisfy the Ottawa Government. But Mr. Laurier has told us, and Israel Tarte has tole us that everybody is satisfied. Why don't they close the matter up? Can it be that they distrust the honest Green way? Or is the orderbeing held in reserve so that the clergy may be told that "We have the Remedial Order en hand as a dernier resort. Greenway knows it, and, when the public' have gone to sleep, he will give us much more than he prom- ises. If he does not do so. we shall have recourse, to the lietsedloi Order." ELEPHANTS IN INDIA. No. One Allowed to Sl,00t'rliem Without > pf'elai. P,',a•tnlsslo,,, Nobody may shoot au elephant, says the London Telegraph, on the Anna- mulle'nr Tipperab Hills. or anywhere else throughout :India anti Ceylon, without special permission, unless it be. a "rogue" or plainly dangerous and de- structive. • The capture of the wild ele- pliant and his careful training are things carried out under an admirable., and' sciehtiflo system, which gives to the ad- ministration in all its branches, and to the native courts, a superb staff of mas- sive and faithful servants, the commis- sariat and artillery elephants. Although they will seldom or never breed 'in captivity, the grand creatures are easy to keep and manage, invaluable for many special' purposes, and at their demise whatever tusks they may carry go to the world's stock of ivory. The older it is the better generally its quality. But in any case how senseless it seems to ex- tirpate the living source of this beautiful commodity, as the reckless hunters and ignorant native chiefs and merchants are still allowed to do in Central Africa! When shall we see the Governments of these various regions sensible enough to perceive and proclaim that live elephants are very muchmore valuable even com- mercially than dead ones, and that the preservation of these stately and service- able animals shall be henneforward a flied policy for African benefit. It has been truly remarked that di- rectly the native and foreign hunters are convinced that one live elephant is worth dozens of tusks, they will he as keen to 'preserve the animal as they now are to exterminate him, We might plead ear neatly, even upon the ground of aes- theticism and natural science, for the protection in future of the noble beast, whose majesty and tranquility of ,mien so well become his silent haunts and. phllosophlo,. harmless existence. The ears of those, however, who massacre the innocent giant to out from him twenty or thirty pounds of material for paper knives and shoe horn would be closed to such remonstrances. The best hope of all who understand the value of the elephant for Africa is that even the most ruthless of his assassins may come to learn that they are destroying their own markets. The rest is for official authorities to do; but certiain it is that if decided measures be not promptly taken there will be no elephants to save, and we shall see in another continent the shameful human sin and folly perpetrated which has stripped America of every free living vestige of her noble droves of bison. The Sunshine of Religion. Our Lord when on earth was not a friend only for dart: days. He could stand by the grave of Lazarus' and weep with the sorrowful sisters, hut He could also be present at the wedding at Cana of Galilee, au honored and welcomed guest. In our deep realization of the solemn mission of our Lord to this sin- ful world, we are too apt to forget that He came as an image and expression and embodiment of the God of love. The morose Christian is not likely to be bid• den to feasts where his presence Is ouly a gloomy shadow, and his countenance as a threatening cloud. We may be sure that even in His holy purity this was not the impression made by Him whose compassions are new every morning " There was sunshine about Him, or the mothers would not have thronged around Him tvitb their little ones; the despisedsuffererswould not have looked trustfully to Him for help; the outcast sinner would -not hare turned to Him for pardon. We seem to fancy that God made our eyes for tears, and that from some other power came their glad twinkle of merriment nr their expression of innocent joy in the midst of social converse. Who wreathed the mouth with smiles that answer to smiles? Who made the dim- ples in the baby's face? Who lit the glad, loving light in its eyes as it begins to be aware of the, tender care of its. mother? Why will we not remember that joy is as much the gift of God as sorrow, and to be as freely aeoepted in His pres- ence? How Prisoners Attempt Suicide. Almost every prisoner under or expect• ing sentence of death tries to commit suicide, and it takes the warders on guard all their time to frustrate such efforts. Not long ago it was noticed that the ears of a female prisoner, while wait- ing her trial, were stuffed with cotton wool. This, she explained, was owing to the fact that she suffered intensely from earache. The prison governor, however, insisted on the cotton being taken out and examined, and in it were found two pills, each containing enough poison to kill several persons. Another prisoner some time ago was heard, during an interview with his wife to use the word suicide, and a close watch was kept on him. At a subsequent visit, after he had been sentenced to death, his wife begged so hard to kiss him for the Jast time that she was al- lowed to .to so through the bars. The length of the salutation, however, caused the warders in attendance to become suspicious, and they forced open the pri- soner's mouth. They found in it a pill of powerful poison, wrapped in tinfoil, which the wife had brought and trans- ferred to him during the kiss. UIQ Sajliug Craft. One of the oldest sailing crafts in the world is the Gokstad ship, a Viking craft which wee discovered in a sepul- chral mound on the shores of Christiana fjord, and is now exhibited in a wonder- fully perfect state of preservation in Christiana. It is a craft of the ninth century A. D., and ie therefore nearly a thousand years old. During excavations in the neighborhood of Gizeh, Egypt, there Was discovered an almost perfect yacht or pleasure vessel which has been ascribed by experts to the seventh or twelfth dynasty, or about 3,000 B, C. It is therefore quite 4,000 years older than the Gokstad ship. It was discov- ered with its rigging almost entire, and, strange to say, the hull .exhibits an ex- traordinary likeness to then of yachts built upon the most approved modern lines. • Newest Outdoor Pad. Timidity must nd longer be a fashion- able affectation, for one of the very latest social fads demands bravery of a decided sort. Milking the cow is the latest pose assumed by yating women, and it is one that requires a good deal in the way of background. In the first place the hostess must have agood-sized country estate,with spacious lawns. Then she must give a lawn fete for charity, in which the chief and draw- ing attraction is the spectacle of young women milking cows in the middle of the lawn. Playing pastoral is rather dangerous for the young women And rather disconcerting to the cows, hut it is profitable and future open-air bazars cannot afford- to dispense with' it. AN ARUM' PILLAR. ALADDIN'S CAVE IS NOT iN IT WITH THIS CAVERN. Twenty -Three Biles of \aturai Subter- ranean Passages--Jiaguiilcent Column of wit, a A,e. Wyandotte cave is inferior to Mam- moth in length, and yet a walk through its twenty-three miles of avenues and. chambers convinces the visitor that there is enough, and to spare: Of coarse he usually tables only the three routes twelve miles—acrd is satisfied. As in the case with all other caves that are in busi- ness, a usi-ness,.a bear bears the credit of discover- ing this natural wonder. It was in this way: In the 'early ;days of the state a hunter one day saw a bear and shot, but did not kill it, Whereupon he gave chase, and was in close pursuit, when, to and behold! it disappeared. This much puzzled the seasoned hunter, and he stood in amazement; but finally, summoning his resolution, lie went to the spot where the animal had vanished. There was a large opening in the side of the hill. In- vestigation revealed the existence of this vast underground possession. So much for tradition. The same thing occurred with every other nave and why not with this? A GUNPOWDER CAVE. The existence of this cave has been known for years. As early as 1812 it was owned by a white man, who gathered saltpetre in Its chambers and, mule gun- powder—a precious article in the back- woods, The early settlers worked the crave that way for years, going further and further from the entrance in search of this mineral. Finally it ceased to he necessary or profitable to make their own powder, and the owner of the cave aban- doned it, and the land reverted to the general Government. In 1849 or 1850 a man named Rothrock Nought the land and explored the cave. At that time only four miles were known, but by chance a small opening was noticed, and an in- vestigation revealed the fact that a new and greater portion had been discovered. This unkni+wn route was explored, six miles 'more of the cave came into posses- sion of the owner, and it first occurred to hila that he had a bonanza. The new 11nd brought the cave into notice, and subsequent discoveries have placed it among the wonders of America, It was forty-six years ago that Mr. Rothrook, then a young man, com- menced acting as guide among the laby- rinth of passage ways under the hill. Now comes one of the 'nest interesting fea- tures of the cave. When be began his visits here he heard the drip, drip of the waters that never cease, and saw the stalactites --little fingers of stone which had been made by the dripping waters, To test the growth of the stone stems,he marked one with the smoke of a candle, and awaited results. Almost fifty years have elapsed, and he returns to -day to the atone timekeeper and measures the growth—three sixteenths of an inch. There are columns here seven feet high formed by the constant drop of water. Only a few feet front the top you pass from the known to the prehistoric. STALAGMITES, STALACTITES, Wyandotte is beautiful in sediment formation—stalagmites and stalactites that form front floor and ceiling, grow- ing scarcely a hairbreadth in a year, but gradually lessening the distance between their crystal points until in time they meet and form columns of translucent stone, beautiful and chaste in design, the despair of architects. Fancy a chamber of imposing dimensions, the lofty ceiling supported by these divinely wrought pil- lars, the concave walls veneered with a coating of sparkling diamonds, the delu- sive glitter of gold and silver in bound- less wealth, and you have Aladdin's cave, as rich as the avaricious vision of the Arabian dreamer. The new routes reveal the beauties of crystal; the old route presents the tumultons, the grand. Tho passages and chambers are rough, broken, the barren ruggedness that turns one's thoughts to grandeur.. This route terminates in the climax of attractions, This Is the Senate chamber, and from its center, seemingly out of a boiling caldron of molten lava that had been chilled and left immovable, rises the Pillar of the Constitution. It stands alone, the grandest column ever erected by man or his Master. Thirty feet in height, seventy-five feet in circumference, with tinted surface and unbroken body, it stands in perpetual darkness, no ray of light ever gilding its sparkling exter- ior save that from a flickering candle, SLOW OF GROWTH. Let us take out our note book and calculate the age of this venerable pile. The grey -bearded guide has, told us that the fragile finger of stone -grew three - sixteenths of an inch in nearly fifty years—one inch in 245 years. This pillar is thirty feet high,3110 inches; two whole 'centuries and forty-five years to one single inch. But then it forms from floor and ceiling,so that two inches are formed in tnat time. According to our calcula- tion, it has been 44,100 years since the foundation of this column was laid. But we have omitted one factor. The stone finger would have formed in that time, but this is 600 times as great in diameter. Our pencils and bongs again—but this is bewildering. We cannot conceive of the lapse of time contained in the 44,000 years. Why go on piling ages upon ages? Who is brave enough to say that Amer- ica lacks age? Why, compared with this, the nemeses were but squatters •upon the homestead of antiquity. Before leaving I found a small piece of rook the Indians had dug from the pillar, It had been 700 years since the redskins had made ornaments from this beautiful stone,and I carried it away with me as a relic (as ancient as an American can well stand up under) of the column whose foundation was laid in the eternity of the past.—Ludianapolis Journal. A Terror. A clergyman went to speak at a Meet- ing'in a country parish, and stayed the night at the parsonage. During the next morning the vicar's wife was trying to persuade him to pro- long his visit, and when, he said ho was sorry he was unable to do so, she said: "At any rate, we hope you will have dinner with us." Then a small child in the room said: "Oh, mother! What a story! I heard you tell fattier just now that you hoped- he would go, because if he stayed you would have to get'd,es- serti The, Old. Story. -"Mrs. Rigby, what was that bundle you hid under the sofa when I came in?" "Never mind; you don't need to know just yet." "Great Caesar, woman! Have you be- gun already to make me Christmas slip- pers lippers out of my old straw hat?" ORINOCO PESTS. The Carib+ alai Electric Eeleiifake Fovding' Dangor<tas, Theta are scores of timings more harm- ful than Indians in the Orinoco and its tributary streams-for example, the caribs. The caribs are not men, but fish, and the most ravenous, blood -thirsty devils in the world, says a correspondent of the Atchison Globe. They are small, not much larger than goldfish, which they much resemble, but swarm in myriads and have mouths like steel traps. They are veritable fresh -water sharks, and when any one of them closes its sharp -set jaws on a piece of flesh he is more insistent than old Shylock in carry- ing it away. The taste of blood has the same effect upon them that it has on a wolf or a tiger, and woe to the man or beast caught in earib waters, for they will strip flesh from bones in short The residents of this region tell fearful tales of the oaribs, but there is another denizen of these Venezuelan waters which they also fear, and that is the elec- tric eel. it lives in the shallow ponds hereabout on the lianos, and its flesh k considered such a luxury that the na- tives cannot resist the temptation to "go eating," even though they run the risk of getting shocked in the process of cap tetra. The eel (the gymnotus electricue) is ferocious and combative, and being high- ly charged with electricity it is always willing and anxious to let off its super- fluous energy. Being from four to six feet in length, and one of its discharges being equal to that of a battery of fifteen cells it can easily kill the largest fish and so benumb a man that he would be- come an easy prey. Now, it happens that Providence furnished the natives with an. easy manner of capturing the eleotrie. eel without exposing themselves to its violence. On these same plains there are vast herds of wild horses, and the wily natives only have to drive a bunch of them into a pond where the eels are abundant to accomplish their purpose. Some of the horses are killed by the re- peated shocks from the enraged eels, but that is nothing, for horses are cheaper down there than eels. After awhile the -- reckless eels hare exhausted all their electricity and lie helpless on top of the water, and then the natives wade in and gather thein up by the dozen. Formalities on the Birth' of a french Baby. The birth of a new citizen in France at once gives rise to countless formali- ties, and an avalanche of legal scribb hinge, which would teach him, could he but understand, that his country is par excellence the borne of legal ceremony and administration. Within the first twenty-four hours notice of the birth' must ba sent to the mayor's office (there is • such an office in every village iu France) so that the official physician may call and make the necessary legal state - inept. I suppose he wants to convince himself that the declaration already made was correct, and that the family, when it announced the birth of a girl, was not trying to screen a future soldier front his compulsory service. Then the father, accompanied by two witnesses, goes to fill out the birth certi ficate, and gives his child its legitimate, documented posi- tion, to which he or she will be obliged to have recourse in all the great, and frequently in the minor,eircuinstenoes of life,from one end of it to the other. With- out the child could not enter a school, nor draw lots on entering the army, nag get married, nor be buried. The least mistake of form would have most serious consequences; the baptismal names declared must always be placed in the same order on all future deeds. These are usually saints' names. I recall the amusing auger of a young American father of my acquaintance, who wished to give his son in Paris the name of the great sailor Duquesne, in remembrance of the avenue where the bah had seas the light of day, and in addition the family name of one of his friends, whleb no Frenchman could pronounce. All Mile seemed so shocking and incongruous to the registrar that the certificate was mods out only after an interminable discussion. —October Century. To Stop Bleeding. Many a mother, says a physician, has Rad a terrible fright by a child running in with its clothes, panda and face all smeared with blood. It is astonishing what a mess a child will manage to make with a little blood. You will find, most probably, when you have washed with cold water, that the amount of in- j'ury is a mere trifle. If it is difficult to stop the bleeding, a most valuable remedy is the common whiting or pipe clay. Pnt a thick covering of either of these on the wound, then a bit of dry lin, and press it closely for a few min- utes. Let what sticks to the wound re- main there, and cover with a bit of plaster. Bleeding from the nose, unless it goes too far, need not alarm you— nay, in many cases it may prevent some- thing much more serious—but when it requires to be stopped let the child sit upright, bathe the neck and face with. cold water and squirt it tip the nostrils. If this does not succeed send for the door tor. An Ideal Sill: Waist - A very showy bodice in nickel gray of the new crushable silk had a delicate pattern traced up on it in platina gray. Platina gray is a dark shade. Nickel it lighter. Then comes silver gray. The sleeves had strapped shoulders, the straps being in piativa silk, which showed very l,rettily upon the nickel gray of the foundation. Across the bust a great spreading bow of the silk gave finish to the waist. The vest was in black velvet, braided with silver-gray braid. Th4 * treatment of braiding has come in full vogue again. The vest was beautifully fitted, and the opening in the middle of the back was finished with steel orna- ments. There was a touch of lace at the wrists, but in other lace upon the waist. Curbstone Repartee. One of the fraternity, who had a black- ing kit over his shoulder, accosted a seedy -looking old man on the corner of Grand River and Woodbine avenues, "Say, boss, want a shine?" "No, my boy," answered the old man; "I used to cut up shines once, but I'nz too old now. ' This eloquence took away the boy's breath for a moment; then he asked with groat apparent sincerity:-- "Don't you have to pay taxes, boss?" "eehaffer?" inquired theold'man. "Real estate on your shoes, boss." Care tor Crop -hound Fowls. Considerable complaint is heard about crop•bound fowls. Here is a cure for this complaint from The Fanciers' Monthly, which is very simple arid, 'it is claimed, Is also effective, Is is slippery elm bark bailed and two orthree teaspoonfuls of liquid, and all given three or four times': a day. A correspondent who has tried it. - says, "I. have never lost . one fowl, no - matter how long it had been crop -bound„ since I started In to see tilos remedy."