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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1900-4-5, Page 7ite:_e_o_e_0-0-o-6-0-0-e-s-e--0-e-0-0-9-0-0•6-e-0-0-6-0-0-0-0-0 &Neal GI . 9 a fl) 9 , 4 9 6 d n _ealth. 9 C es el 6: 9 6 c' 0 , Strange White Indians In Mexico o q 0 9 .4IT,i> 9 o 1 ' Who Possess a Hysterious Supply 9 a ID wr':/11 la 0 `P of Gold Past. 9 g • e -06-0-o-e-e-o-G-0-e-a-e-e-e-o-e-e- 0 0 •-•-e-0-0-o-6-0-0- -e-e- -e-0-0-*-0-0-*-0-6-0-0-e-0-0-0-0-6-0 In a beautiful valley of the great Sier- ra Madre naountains, in old Mexico, lives .one of the strangest tribes of the entire continent -the Quinces. These people are neither Aztece, 'Mexicans nor Indi- ans, though their neighbors call them "white Indians." They speak of them- selves as Quineas, and their only village is called QUillefl Ma. It is said that there are not more than 1,000 of, them and they assert thal. they have occupied the .sante locality for Wally centuries, though they have a tradition that their ancestors at some remote period dwelt near a great . salt sea, and in proof of this fact they {how visitors a small collection of shells f•earefully preserved in their only temple. These people are nearly white, and it is rare that the traveler upon ;sleeting -one of them is not greeted by a friendly ,look out of a pair of pleasing blue eyes. By many persons who have made a su- perficial acquaintance with the racial .characteristics and customs of this tribe they have been regarded as Albino Zunis. A little, investigation soon convinces one that they have no relationship whatever with these peculiar people. Their eyes are not pinkish or weak, like the Albillos', nor is their hair of the same'color or tex- ture. They are sun worshipers, says the New York Press, but they do not prac- tice any of the hideous and repulsive rites requiring the use of reptiles peculiar to the Zunis of New Mexico. They are dis- tinguished for their hospitality to stran- gers and for their love of peace and good morals. Crimes that are so common .among people of a higher civilization are entirely unknown to them, and it is said that their simple laws are rarely. vio- lated. They are the pets of the Mexican gov- ernment from the fact that they are ever ready to pay any tax imposed upon them without the, least protest. When an as- sessment is made, the chief simply asks how much his people have to pay, and when the amount is stated he replies, "On the third day my young men will bring you the money in the yellow dust, If it is the will of our God and our Fa- ther who shines above us." Every im- portant matter always is deferred for three days, to give to their _priests time to consult with their God, as they say, but the Mexicans Say that the delay is to give to the chief men of the tribe an op- portunity to go to their secret gold mine and get the necessary dust. At any time they can get any amount of gold dust, but no man outside of the tribe has ever been able to discover the locality. Many efforts have been made by government officials, private individuals and robbers to induce these people to reveal the source from which they so easily obtain such lerge sums in gold dust, but they can neither be moved by the hope of the greatest rewards or the fear of the tamst horrible torture. It is hardly probable that all of the people are familiar with the important tribal secret. Those who are best ac- quainted with the manners and customs of the Quinces think that only the priests and perhaps the head chief of the tribe know where the gold comes from. Ex- pet'ienced prospectors who have explored carefully the Sierra Mathes in the vicin- ity of Quince Ma say that it is one of the greatest mineral regions on the con- tinent, but they never are able to find any paying placer deposits, though rich Coat quartz is abundant, and more or less gold dust can be panned out from al- most every little gulch in the mountains. For the last two or three centuries the Quinces have dwelt in peace. They have A SUSTANTIAL FAREWELL. Won the favor and protection of the gov- ernment by meeting promptly every re- quest for gold dust that has ever been Made upon them, and when they are vis- ited by a bandit or a revolutionist who (lees not Overawe or offer to injure them they give him a handful of gold dust and set toed before him. If he prolongs his Istay longer that three days, they give hint another handful ,of (hist; and the priest interims" him that the' God of the Quinces 'desires him to depart. It would 'he timeless for the outlaw to askfor more or make threats, for if he should burn the whole town and but &any' Man and Wonlan to death not another grain wotild he Obtain. They have a large house in their village that is furnished especially for the accomnaodation of travelers, and every one who accepts their hospitality Is invited to remain three days. At the end of that period the chief, often ac- companied by one or more cif the priests of the tribe, visits the stranger, and he is informed that the great God of the Quin- ces desires that he should pursue his Journey in peace. 12 the traveler should complain of being sick or footsore, he is invited to remain three days longer, and an old woman of the tribe whom they be- lieve to be skilled in the art of healing the sick is sent to offer to him her serv- ices When the traveler is ready to de- QIIINCA (TITRE FOR SNAKE BITE, part, two young men are appointed to accompany him a short distance as a courtesy. Before he starts a young girl whose entire costume is made of the plumage of birds approaches, bearing a small dish upon which there are a few Mexican coins, and the chief asks the astounded traveler to take some or all of the money, saying, "You may need it to buy food or drink to sustain you on your journey among strangers, and. our God desires that you shall ever carry in your `Wart a good image ot the Quinces." But there is a skeleton in their tribal closet. A horrible charge has been pre- terred against them, though it has never been proved. There is one question which they fail to answer satisfactorily - Why is it that they do not increase in numbers? "We are not a prolific people," is the reply of the priest of the sun. "Our women never .bear more than two chil- dren." The Quinces are a puzzle to all ethnol- ogists. They are of no kinship to their neighbors, and their skin is too white for them to claim descent from the old Ma- yas of Central America. One of their strange customs has led some investiga- tors to think that they are of Semitic ori- gin. In front of their temple stands a pole about 20 feet high, about which is wound a great serpent carved out of wood. Whenever a Quince is bitten by a reptile, he runs immediately to this pole and • prostrates himself on the ground at the base. While the priests are offering sacrifices inside of the tem- ple the people gather about the stricken Denali, chanting a mournful appeal to the gods for his recovery, and the medi- cine woman administers to him a liquid which is possibly an effectual remedy, for the victim frequently recovers. The old missionary priests saw something in this ceremony which reminded them of Moses raising the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and they at once jumped to the conclusion that the Quinces were the Rescendants of the shipwrecked crew of one of Solomon's vessels, either outward or homeward bound from the land of Ophir. SpaniSh Beggars Are Proud. A beggar in Madrid had from time im memorial occupied a certain step at the entrance to a certain church. To this church there came every day a well to do gentleman who was accuetomed to de- posit a 10 centavo piece in the waiting beggar's hat. But it happened that the gentleman fell ill and for two weeks was confined to his bed. When he resumed his attendance at daily worship, he put his coin in the beggar's hat and was go- ing on into the chureh. The beggar seized his coattail. "Pardon me, senor, caballero," he said, "but have you not a little account to settle with me?" "What?" asked the gentleman. "An account with you? W,hat do you mean?" "Why, yes," said the beggar. "You are accustomed, are you not, to give me 10 centavos as you come in?" "Well, have I not just given you the coin?" "Ah, but you give me 10 centavos every day. You have not been here for 14 days. Therefore you owe me 140 centavos." "Get out!" answered the gentleman. "This is alms, not a salary, and I owe you no alms when I am absent." The beggar drew himself up ,loftily and flung back the 10 centavo piciee to the gentlemen. "Well, then," he exclaimed, "if you have no more honor than that, you can go and get another beggar! I shall have no more to do with your - Youth's Column:don. The GreeiedatrIns Dagger. Many Greek maidens wear an elegant dagger in a silver sheath -really only as an ornament. When the girl marries, the dagger is taken off, the idea being that it need no longer be worn, as she will be fully proteeted by 'her husband. - r e teeters.' Circular. :TEE' liji$IntERS7.H.JW4L MAN WHO OUT.$HYLOCKS SHLOCK AND SQUEEZED OUT 3,000 P. 0 - now the Extent of Isaac Gordou'a Exec5- 6.1/0 Interest EX /let WAS rirtit, Becanku Known -Ve Int te rod 5 he information to ta Parliamentary Comulittre-Im- parted the linowledge With eMenace Su "Itetire From the Business" If Io- terfered With. Isaac Gordbn, who died a few days ago, shared with 'Sam Lewis the re- putation of being the -"King of '11S - dyers." Their fame extended far be- yond the borders of the :British' Em- pire, since not alone foreign noble- men, but even continental crowned heads ad princes of the blood were accustomed to iuvoke their services,. which were in every. sense Of the word interested. -Whereas Sam Lewis has devoted himself more particularly to the mem- bers of the English and foreign aris- tocracy, and is so suave and courtly in his dealings as to give color to the story that he is financially bootee ed by two membees of the nobility. Isaac Gordon found his victims more among the 'upper and lower middle classes, not alone in London, but also in the provinces. He had branch offices under different names at Liv- erpool, Manchester, and all the big towns and cities of the United King- dom. He was much less agreeable in his dealings than Sam IseevIs, was brual and brusque, both in his speech and manner, and made use of terrorism where Sam Lewip. employed polite persuasion. The extent of Isaac Gordon's busi- ness, and the colossal character of the interest which he charged, was never realized by the English public until he appeared before the Parlia- mentary Committee on Money Lend- ing in the summeee of 1397. That committee had been constituted at the suggestion of the Lord Chief Jus- tice of the realm and of other emin- ent judges, with a view of devising some means, additional to the exist- ing laws against usury, to prevent money lenders from exacting an ex- cessive degree of interest. , Isaac Gordon, who, was a hard -fea- tured, keen-ened Hebrew, with a short -cropped black beard and an un- limited amount of assurance, declined utterly to permit himself to be in any way intimidated by the committee, the members of which he treated in the most matter of fact and indepen- dent manner. He, however, readily answered all their questions, admit- ted that he had money lending estab- lishments all over the United King- dom, under different aliases, and that they all workel into one another's hands. He a cit merely confessed., but even volunteered the statement, that he was in the habit of charging as much as 3,000 per cent. for money. "I do not lend money," said he. "I sell money," and he added that if any legislation was enacted to pre- vent him from exacting this extraor- dinary rate of interese or a.ny other rate that he saw fit to charge 'he would "retire fromthe business." 1 -le put this to the augus members of the Parliamentary Committee in the shape of a threat, just as if the world of commerce would be unable to survive the loss inflicted upon it by hip going out of business, and so dumbfounded were the committeemen by his phenomenal cheek in making this statement that he possibly in- terpreted their lookof startled dis- may as a fear he might carry his menace into effect. Some of the arguments that he put forward in defence of his extrava- gant rates of interest were logical. "A Uld/1," Said he to the committee, "may sell a hundred pound bank note just as well as a Mazarin Bible, or a picture by Greoze. People would rid- icule the idea of there being any legal limitation of the price for the Bible or for the painting. Why then should there be a legal restriction as regards the price at which the bank note is sold?" And a litqe later he enquired: "How is trade to be car- ried on if the market is .not open, and why should a dealer be deprived of the advantage which he gained from his customer's eagerness to buy?" Finally Gordon pointed out that the risks of his trade were colossal, that the rate of interest was made proportionate to the extent of the risks entailed, .and that when a man was in such extremeties as to be will- ing to pay 3,0.00 per cent. for a loan the chances were 70 per cent, against the usurer ever seeing his money again. ' So ingenious and convincing were his argamerits, and so great was the impression , which they made on the minds of the bard -headed men of business composing the Parliamentary Committee; that in spite of the pro- found antipathy excited by his call- ing they reported in favor of his contention that the law had no right to limit the rate of interest, and that it was in' no way more criminal for a usurer to lend money at hun- dreds and even thousands per cent. than for underwriters to insure an overdue vessels for eight and even 100 per cent. The committee agreed to the plea put forward by Gordon that in one case, as in the other, the excessive rate of interest was due to the risky character of the security. There was ane point, however, in which the committee took exception to Gordon, and that 'WEIS his trading under a variety of,, different adiasee,, and they recommended that -every money lender should, take out a Gov- ernment license in his true eame, in the same way as a pawnbroker -- recommen da,t i on -which Parliament had not acted upon, since it holds that licensing neurers it would be giving not .ineee.ly (legal sanetion but even approval to neuey. Tho object of the Parliamentary Committee in this tionnection was to put a step to one of the mostprofit- able resources of Gordon's immense business. When he had a Victim in his toils and the term for which the loan had been, made had expired be would put oA the screw hard in or- der to force his debtor to pay both pr (veinal and In in full. Fie WoUld absolutely declatie to listen to any preposals for a renewal or pros longation of the loan, but would cause it to be indirectly suggested to the VietiM that (Ise latter might pos- sibly be able to obtain from Sollie prOVinCal money lender at Beighton, Manchester, Leeds, or • elsewhere the funds needed to pay off Cordon, and thus evade the threatened legal pro- ceedings. As a general rule the ;victim would nibble at 'the bait, would obtain a larger loan at a still higher rate of interest from the provincial money lender, amd would then use the funds to settle ;with Gordon, in happy ig- norancc of the fact that the 'Isaac Helaine' of Y ork or the Mr. Yerburtall of Leeds \ vere one and the same per- son—the ingenious Isaac Gordon of London - In this way a sinall lonn 01 Sa1.00 or so -within the space of two or three years was magnified into indebtedness of absolutely coLossal proportioas, the original amount of money invest- ed and risked by Isaac Gordon having been ridiculously small in comparison. 'Lanz Cordon showed no more come punctioa about revealing this particu- lar phase of his business than in con- fessing that he was M thehabit of cheegang 8,000 per cent. for money leaned, which he considered, under the circumstances to be a fair rate of interest. And it Le an extraordin- ary fact that ia spite Of the publicity given to the proceedings of, the com- mittee and to the statements of Gor- don, this playing of Gordon's main office in London into the hands of the branch oflices in the provinces went on quite as merrily after the com- mittee terminated its work as before. In fact, the effect of the investiga- tion and of the committee's report was diametrically opposite to what had been anticipated by its promot- ers. It had rendered people for the first time alive to the immense risks run by usurers in loaning money, and it placed before them the money -lend- ing business in an altogether new light. Not only did Parliament dca cline to inaugurate any new and re- strictive legislation against the money -lenders, but it virtaally el °l- ashed the old usury laws existing un- til that time, as absolutely useless. Moreover, the revulsion in public opinion brought about by Isaac Gor- don's frank avowals and clever argue Ineats seem to have influenced even the judiciary. For in nearly every suit brought by money -lenders against creditors who refused to pay on the pretext that the interest charged wo s usurious the courts since 1897 have decided in favor of the money -lender on the ground that, usurer or not, he was just as much entitled to his le- gal rights as any other citizen. It is probably the first time on record that a man, by boldly admitting his vil- liany instead of seeking to excuse it, managed not only to avert stern measures against himself and his class, but- to cause a revulsion of popular feeling in favor of the latter. EGG FILM IN PLACE OF CUTICLE - 1 Successful Case of Skin Grafting - Under Peculiar eiettuinSiamies. According to an Indianapolis spe- cial in The New York Trilaune, the second successful Opeaation of skin grafting by using the skin or inner film of newly laid eggs has been ac- complished at the City Hospital there by Dr. W. V. Morgan and other physicians of the institution in ques- tion. The subject is Scott Smith, a colored mah, who was horribly burned about the face, neck and shoulders by the 'bursting of a coal Oil lamp. The raw surface could not be cured by ordinary means, and :of - ter several physicians had applied restoratives in vain. Smith was re - Moved to the hospital. Dr. Morgan secured some newly laid eggs, and the skin or film. was .applied, and it was only e short time when the good results were apparent. . In ten days the film of the egg was united securely to the flesh. and the wounds were :perfectly healed, An interestibg part of the opera- tion, from a scientific point of view, is What is to be the color of the re- sulting cuticle. A microscopic ex- amination shows that the Skin of the egg is now a poet of the skin of Smith's body; but it remains white while the other skin is black. The. blood circulates through it as through other Parts, but it is Yet an open question whether the .pigment which colors the riegro's skin will enter the new skin Ond also color it. So far there is no evidence that this will .be the result,: for it .has re- mainedas White as: itwas when first applied..; Smith isinmortal: terror for fear feathers. will grow out, of .his face and neck where the egg film was ap- plied. He examines the parts: every hour in the day to see 12 there is any evidence of :quilla,,:and. never (fails to a,sk his. phYsiciansfor opinions on this sublept as often. as they examine him. Some joking remarks made by the physicians in :course of the opera- tion caused the patient, to :conceive such a thing possiblc,. and for several, days hehad to be watched closely to prevent 'him from removing :the film,. It is :Said here that the only other successful.: operation Of the kiln'ever perforthed . was in Brooklyn (NhY,) hospital, A Eiterriry Luncheon.. young person of literary taste gave a luncheon not: toog since which she ..boastfully claims to have sur- passed.' all the •"tinique ftinctieses'' Of the winter.' I -Ter. f:table was covered With white blotting ' pantie. .:The motils and bon -bone lay ia pen traps. Tho: name -cards Were damningly lilee the 'printed slips with Which ,cold-. hleOded, ..pUblieherereturn matm- scriptsm Patch and ices Were Sented In deep 'glass inle wells and the china was decorated strangely with. quota- tions concerning books. As a Precaution. Jaggles---(Every man should learn to swirn. Waggles—That's scit He neVer knows wliets his best girl will throw hint. overboard. Coe 11 Trg. 'I never saw It man of m.ore con- fiding dispoeition than Barber," 'That' a Barber, all right, Why, he even believes hiE °WEL lies. 'TIft74 'SU.N.DA-7V $0-11;QPI4 LESSON 11, SCOND QUARTER, INTER- NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL 3. Text of the Lesson, Math. vli, 1,14. Aleatory Verses, 7, 8, 1.3. 14-6eiden Text, asatin. via 12.- commentary Prepared by the Re. D, 51. Stearns. [Copyright, WOO, 1:61 D. M. Seart4.1 1, 2. "Judge not that ye be not judg- ed." Our lesson is entitled "Precepts and Promises," but it is part of the ser- mon on the mount, the laws of the king- dom, and if we are joint heirs with Christ of this kingdom the features of the king- aom should be more fully seen in our daily life. After saying that righteous- ness which does not: exeeed that of the scribes aud Pharisees is 'WOrtli 11C/thing in the sight of God (v, 20), He then taught them that the Ten Commandments meant Oct merely the letter, but the spirit of the command and that all almegiring, praying and fastiug that has any regard to what men think of it is ot 00 uee. All must be in the sight of God ahd tint() Elam alone, WhO is our Father in heaven, who carol for lilies and sparrows and will not allow any child of His to lack any good thing. • 13-5. It is difficult for us to believe that when things seem wrong the beam is in our eye and only a mote in the other's eye. We can, hardly be persuaded of this, for we think that things must be as they seem, and the beam is always in the other's eye. But it is the I.,ord who is speaking to us, He who reads the heart, a.nd He knows. Let us seek earnestly to be right with God, seeing things and peo- ple in His light, and then only shall we sec clearly. When- we are tempted to think that' others are wrong and we are 'right, it would be well to cousider peayer- fully the possibility of our being wrong before we say anything. 6. Dogs and swine suggest the un- clean, the unrenewed who, whatever pro- fession they may make, are still natural and unsaved (II Pet. ii, 22). For other references to dogs or to the unsaved as dogs see Ps. yaii, 16, 20; PhiLiii, 2; Ilev. xxii, 15. John Wesley said: "Speak not of the deep things of God to those whom you know to be wallowing, in sia nor de- clare the great things God hath done for your soot to profane, furious, persecuting wretches. Talk not of perfectiou to the former nor of your heart's experience to the latter. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will tell us when to speak and to whom and what He would have us to 'say. "Be filled with the Spirit." 7, 8. Who is wise enough to know when to speak and what to say? None but He who is perfect in knowledge. Who teach- eth like Him (Job xxxvi, 4, 22)? If IIe sees that we earnestly desire to be filled with, controlled and taught by Him, He will do it, for He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him (Ps. exlv, 19). Ask- ing suggests II Kings ii, 9; II Citron. i. 7; ix, 12; Math. xxi, 22; John IT: 10: XIV, 13, 14; xv, 7, 10, and other passages. Seeking sends us to Prey. i, 28; viii, 17; Ps. euevii, 4; Jer. xxix, 13; Zeph. ii, 3, and others. Knocking is a much less colmnon word, found only in the Old Testament in Song v, 2, and in the New Testament in Luke xi, 9, 10; ail, 30; 25; Acts xii, 13, 16; Rev. iii, 20; besides our lesson. If the thought of the Lord knocking at our hearts takes hold of us, we will better understand His desire that we should ask, seek and knock that we may receive, find and have His whole kingdom opened to us. 9-11. No parent would give his child an evil thing instead of a good thing. How much less will our Heavenly Father with- hold anything good from His children? The parallel passage to verse 11 in Luke xi. 13, says, "The Holy Spirit" instead of "Good things." Who is this who is perfect in knowledge and teacheth like no other, but the Holy Spirit? Our Lord said on that last night: "He shall teach you all things." "He will guide you into all truth" (John xlv, 26; yvi, 13). Be- cause we have such a Father we are therefore to take no thought for life or food or raiment, bit as trustful children of God glorify Him by being filled with His Spirit and allowing Him to take full control of thoughts, words and deeds. When our Father sees that we desire this with the whole heart, He will not with- hold the fullness of the Spirit from any of Elis children, but it must be an holiest desire and to the end that God may be glorified in us (I Pet. iv, 11). 12. These concise summaries are so helpful. In Rom. xiii, 10, we read, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore Love is the fulfilling of the law." EIere our Lord gives us a summery of he law and the prophets in the words, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Rabbi Hillel says in the Talmud, "What- soever is hateful to thyself that do not to thy neighbor," and Tobit iv, 15, says, "Do that to uo man which thou 'latest." But our Lord Jesus takes higher ground and tells us not merely not to do what Is wrong, but to do what is right in the sight of God and man. 13. "Enter ye in at the strait gate." There is a broad, easy way, with a wide entrance, and it is tilled with people who think they are going to heaven, not know- ing that it leadeth to destruction. Thoise who help to fill thas broad way teach that all are Christians who have a desire to be good and net in any way like the Lord Jesus. .All who are kind and turnable and living unselfishly. these we are told are Christiaus. Even the heathen, who never heard of God, if they do the best they can, they, too. are saved. Ian Alec - Laren says on page 103 of his "Mind of the Master," "According to Jesus. the selfish man was lost; the unselfish was saved." This is the kind of teachifig which fills the broad way with deluded souls who think they are safe but have uo foundation on which to rest. 14. "Because strait 'is the gate and narrow is the way which lendeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Many do not Isnow of it, and many who do lenow of it d6 not like it. There is no possibility of entering heaven without righteousness (I Col'. vi, 9). And it must be that which God has provided by the sacrifice of His Son (II Coe. se 21). It is the Wood that mftkes atoneinent for the soul (Lev. xvii, 11), and without abed - ding of blood there is no remission of sins (Heb. ix, 22). Cain did not like the way of blood, rind there are many in hie Way todey. A pastor of an .enallgalieal ellUrell ill the west said publicly from his own pulpit that "T -Ie would rather be lnst than to be carried to heaVen on the hack of a murdered man" (July Watch- word). The Lord Jesus who died for our sins and rose etude and who is the only way to God (John xiv, (3; Acte iv, 12) of- fers all the benefits of Hie great seerifice to every penitent einem' who will ticeept Elba (John i, 12; vi, 37), but there is no other way (Acts iv, 12). Nine THE AGE OF THE EARTH. —a- iltx Vti.tri, li tto L'stintata .‘5(.d.... by Prof, dol)'. Some time ago Lord Kelvin publish- ed inessay eposi the age of the earth. Insole tam paysists.' point of view, as expreesed by Lora Kelvin, 20,000,000 years would be the minimum and 40,- 000,000 the maximum age, Even the longest of these estimates is far too short for the evolutionist to accowits fee all the biologic chatiges which are ("Sschibited in the progress of life as we know it. This problem of the mirth's, age has now been attacked by a infeeralogist in the person of Pro- fessor ably, an Irishman. 1 -le arrives at his conclusions by considering the primal crust of the earth tat have con- sisted of minerals which were of Che same composition as those existing at the preseut time, and that the prima, 'aye rain and rivers contained no so- dium, but a certain amount of chlor- ine is supposed to have been present in the atmosphere as hydrochleric acid. Then, by assuming erosion of the land to have proceeded uniformly from the earliest geological to the P108002 time, the amount, of any sub- stance discharged in a known time by all the rivers would give the amount of that substance removed from the land in that length of time. fa the present instance sodium was takefl as, the basis. It is supposed to be re- moved from the rocks as coninion salt. The data for the calculations; ars as follows: The rivers of the world con- tain 24,106 tons of sodium per cubic mile, and their discharge into the ocean is at the rate of 6,425 cubic' miles per annum. Therefore the mass of sodium in the ocean divided by' the mass annually brought down by the rivers gives the length of time in which the mass in the ocean ac- cumulated. The result is 89,565,0011 years, or about 90,000,000 years as, the age of our earth. Lord Clyde and Lady Roberts. In an article on Lord Roberts by Mr. Alexander MacKintosh. in The Woman at Home for March, an inci- dent between Mrs. Roberts. as she thee was, and Lord Clyde is,recalled. Early in his married life Roberts was disappointed by not being sent on the China expedition, but Lord Clyde, at a dinner at the Cannings', claimed the gratitude of his spouse for not sending him. "I suppose," he said, by way of explanation to the puz- zled lady, "you would rather . not be left in a foreign country alone a. , few months after your marriage." "l'his was too much for Mrs. Roberts, "You have done your best," she re- torted, "to make my husband regret his marriage." Lord Clyde was amazed. "Well, Pll be hanged if I can understand you women!" he ex- clabased. The lady was soon appeos- ed, however, and she and the fine old soldier became great friends. The voyeee. The "voyder" was a Jorge dish in which were collected, the broken Vie- tuals, which were removed from the table with a large lenife with a- broad, ,flat blade, called the veyder knife, from vider, to empty, clear- or make void. "The Boke of Nature." by Hugh Rhodes, the 'date of whh.a. is 1577, one of the curious sets of handbooks of manners and claque e reproduced by the Early English Text Society, speaks of these vessels as fol- lows: "See ye have Voyders ready for to void the Morsels that they doe leave on their Trenchers. Then with your Trencher knyfe take off, such fragments and put them in your 'Voy- der and then settle them downe cleane agayne." Few silver ones remain, but some large brass voyder or dishes - which have probably been so used may still be seen, of the history of which not') g is lsnow n by their present owner's. 'Old English Plate," by W. J. Ceipps. consumption Trent( 0 bY Electricity. In the curreat number of the "Comptes Rendus" of the French Academy M. E. Bourner describes the action of high-tension currents of high frequency upon chronic pulmon- ary tuberculosis. Considerable im- provement followed the application of these currents to tubereuloop subjects, the night sweats hong reilitaid after the fifth or sixth application, and dis- appearing completely after the fif- teenth. The feverish symptoms de- creased and the appetite improved. The expectoration became less abund- ant and the bacteria were diminish- ed. The .experiments are still being The Upturned Must:lithe. The statement that the Kaiser's mustache has been trimmed after the fashion of the mustache of Charles I., as depicted in his portraits, has been, indignantly traversed by a German monthly. The "upturned mustache" was really invented, according to this authority, at the court of Philip IV. of Spain. Charles I. set the fashion in London, and it spread thence to Belgium, Germany, Sweden and France. Louis XII. was the last monarch who wore this type of mus- tache till its revival by William II, The Iron 1,1 111t, Iti god. A German chemist has just shown that the huina,n blood contains on at average of aboat 0.05 per cent. or iron. Now, accordiog to Weber and Lehman 's experiments upon two crim- inals evh o were 'Weighed an d decal toted rand all their blood washed from their veins,, it was found the t„ one pound of blood was present r( -r every eight poends of body. It wild Pc seen, therefore, that a person weighing 160 pounds contains nearly on* ounce of iron. A 0atent:11,111;z Eye. "I believe Madge hap designs Mr. Itobinson." "Itney?" "I've noticed her looking at him i\i Li her bargain -counter expression, on." OU TI,,, tie/ems Tom "Look at poor ISres. Jones draleas fettle- that heteVy hose around sprink- ling their yard." ' "Thataa all right. . Listen tci Jones. lIe's putting tlio baby to aleep,?' 4+`,