The Exeter Times, 1885-8-6, Page 2rUBS OF SOLID SALT.
anew, leateonai enriositp in Afghan•
lstw►.
Meeting of the Royal Geographi-
, London, the other evening, Sir
en read ,paper on the countries
a had recently visited west of
He gave tan interesting de-
g f the geography , of theurghala
the ouatoms of its people, and
liegiugulisr account of the Namakser,
es of rar-oilan, visited and ile-
us by Capt. rate :—
often means "the sunken ground,"
word can better .describe the gener-
ae of the valley of these lakes.
length of the valley from the Kan -
on the west of the Band-i-Dozan which
It on the east, is about 30 miles, and
t breadth about 11 ,riles, dividing
o parte by a connecting ridge which
across from north to aouth, with an
of about 1.,800 feet, but has a narrow
rises to some 400 feet above the gen-
rage: To the west of this ridge lies
from which the Tokio Turkomans
Margot their salt. The valley of thie
la some nix rnilea square, and is sur -
ed on all sides by a steep, almost pre -
descent, impassable for baggage
ale, so far as I am aware, except by the
road, in the northeast corner. The
the lake I made to be about 1,430
TO the sea level, which givea it a
of some 400 feet from the level of
eating ridge, and o£ some 950 feet
be general plateau. The lake itself
the centre of the basin above de.
and the supply of salt in it is appar•
y 'unlimited.. The bed of the lake is one
d mass of hard salt, perfectly level and
ererl only by orae or two inches of water.
ride over it was like riding over ice or ce-
t; the bottom wan covered with a alight
ent, but when that was scraped away
pure white salt ,hone ant below. How
;+sp this deposit may be it is lmposaiblo to
for no one has yet got to the better, of
To the oast of the dividing ridge is the
d lake, from which the Saryka of
n Iden take their salt. The valley in
this lake is situated is much the larger
two. The valley proper is iteeif come
miler in length by about ten miles in
th. The descent to it is precipltoua on
meth and went sides (rnly, the eastern
s ath-eastern end sloping gradually up
suooesadon of undulations. The level
lake is apparently lower than that of
other; I made it out to be aome 800 feet
ee iealevel. The salt in this lake isnot
;smooth as in the other, and did not look
pure. It dug out in flake' or strata,.
nersily of some four inches In thickness,
loaded into bags, and carried oft on wa-
fer sale without further preparation.
Bueaisn Topics.
om the moment the news of Mr. Glad-
's defeat reached St. Petersburg, the
tical atmosphere changed Al if by magic.
F talk of war, which during the last
` had quite ceased, is everywhere re-
, :and the coming struggle again forma
bjeot of conversation to the exclusion
of the cholera and the inoculation of
Ise. There is no doubt that the pre -
tions for war, which have been carried
t.1y in the careless, lackadaiaicai way
'ar to the Rusaiane, will be resumed
more energy. If England bran no
ue obstacle to the present project for
line which gives Zulfikar and Moruchak
the Russians, moat likely hostilities will
postponed. Resale, is accused of encroach -
more end more, but if any one is interest-
inough in the subject to go into all the
ails, he will be convinced that without
territory claimed by Russia her aoquis-
os in Central Asia would be almost 'useless
ler.
iaffirm that Russia desires to begin a
zona and endless war with such an oppo-
t as England in the present deplorable
e of the Russian finances is to prove one's
strangely ignorant of affairs in this
,try, and greatly to exaggerate the im-
Fece attributed to the Central Asian
-eata. The real interests of Russia are
e Black Sea, and her dreams are of Con-
tinople, not of Herat or even India.
re storm of the 29th of May was "an ill
that blew nobody any good." It caused
wreck of the ironclad Kremlin in the
ic, it canoed great mischief in the mill -
port of Cronstadt, and it made the Neva
r the streets of the capital. The equip -
of the Kremlin was saved, and that
al is being taken off the sand bank where
;uck and ignominiously tugged back
pori. The Kremlin has a queer repute -
it never goes outpf harbor but it gets
some terrific serape. Of all ships ever
it is the ugliest, and, except perhaps
smous yacht Livadia, certainly the most
eldy. Since the opening of the canal
h permits the largest ships to enter her
)r, St. Petersburg has put on an air of
ation before quite foreign to this capital.
possibility of sending goods without dia-
;mg them at Cronstadt will no doubt
ly contribute to raise the commercial
rtance of St. Petersburg. Cronstadt
v to be exclusively devoted to military
)nes.
-�•��11.N1M1�•►M
•
A Legend Cup.
a grand English collection of • such
y and note -worthy relics is a stork
ing-cup. On Its beak it bears an in -
in swaddling -clothes, representing, an
it German nursery belief that the king.
storks is the bringer and protector of
I. Very heavily phased is thi
being left free from
au quaint an
Wish.
is
LIGHTNING} I'ktEAKS,
Lightning struck a Chinese restaurant in
Helena, Montana, and Ong Ong Jonk's face
was changed from copper oolor to blaek,
but he was uninjured.
A colored man and his wife and child,
were sitting upon a waggon seat, driving a
mule, at Dermott, Ark., when a lightning
bolt killed both of the parents and the mule,
while the child tramped entirely,
Aaron Lowe's cat had her hair singed off
from her entire body by lightning, while
Mrs. Lowe and her mother were thrown to
thefioorof the sitting room of their home in
New Haven when lightning struck the house.
A little detached cloud hovered over Baker
Hollow, near Brooklyn, and threw out from
every side zigzag flashes of electricity that
made it appear like au immense fire wheel.
Ezra Foster went to his window to get a
good view, when a bolt passed through hia
head from ear to ear and killed him.
Lightning woke up John Rouen of Ark-
wright, N, Y. He found himself paralyzed
and sibs wife unconscious by his side. After
they were able to get out of bed they found
Mrs Housen's bangs bad been burned off
and a neat strip of akin taken from her fore-
head, while the husband had severe burns
on his arm, shoulder, and leg.
Thomas H. Malony had just atepped on a
rail of one of the switches of the Cincinnati
Southern Railroad, at Chattanooga, Tenn.,
when there mama blludiug Oaah, and he fell
dead instantly. The lightning struck the
rail, entered l4Talony'e body by the heel, cut
gide shoe as if with a knife, cut his clothes
open, and took the crown out of his hat,
Dan Stone's umbrella was turned inside
out and the cloth cut into ribbons by light-
ning at (ltiefield. Then It ran down his erns
and split open his bend, and so thoroughly
destroyed a peck baaket he was carrying
that no vestige of it could he found. Every
seam of his shoes was cut open as clean as
though cut with a knife, but without injury
to the leather. ile aurviveu.
A Frenoh-Canadian Bride -
At ono of the smaller landings, where the
boat did not usually atop unless signaled, a
urea was soon, standing gesticulating wildly,
The captain °ams forward and with an
amused expression of oonntenance informed
the passenger, that he knew from the excit-
ed state the individual was in that a wedding
party was coming on board. And his prog.
noatioation was soon verified, for as soon as
the boat touched the landing a motley pro-
oession came trooping down—old and young
and middle-aged, from the infant in arms to
the aged couple, who, John. Anderson like,
wore tottering down. The procession was
headed by the bride and groom, the latter
looking excessively uncomfortable and out
of piece in his "" dressed up" condition; but
the bride presented a great contrast to her
new -made lord ; her self-eatiafaction was
supreme. An the captain remarked, "If you
really want to witness happineaa and con-
tentment, you mast see a French-Canadian
bride from the rural districts. She has at-
tained to the height of her ambition ; she is
at last decked out in bridal finery." She
went straight for the saloon after coming on
board, and looked round a little nervously at
drat, then eat frigidly down on the extreme
edge of the nearest benab, and cast down her
eyes, as was auppoaed, in blushing modesty.
But no ! it was not modesty ; it was her
shoes upon which her admiring glances were
directed.
The rent of her costume was commonplace,
consisting of a black dress of some cheap ma-
terial, which one of the ladies designated as
"lustre," She wore a hat trimmed with a
wreath of tawdry-lookingpink and bluearti-
ficial flowers, while bows of yellowand green
ribbon relieved the sombre hue of the dress.
But it remained for the shoes to give the
true bridal character to this somewhat re-
markable toilet. They were of white kid,
low cut, with huge rosettes on the instep.
Her pedal extremities, which were of rather
colosaaI proportions, were augmented by
home -knit woollen stockings, whioh appear-
ed just a trifle incongruous. Her husband
soon joined her, and took a seat beside her,
and as he sat speechless, with his wife's
hand lying in his own, it was supposed he
too was lost in admiration and wonder at the
beauty of the slippers. A half-hour late
found them in the same position, with the
bride still casting loving glances at her feet.
When the newly wedded pair left the boat
they were met by an old man and a young
girl, who, by the way they embraced the
bridegroom, were set clown as his father and
sister. The former took the bride gently by
the hand, who received them with rigid
stateliness. The girl timidly ventured to
kiss her newly made sister, The caress was
passively permitted, not returned, and after-
ward deliberately wiped off with a blue
cotton pocket -handkerchief, The Iast seen
of the kid shoes they were almost invisible
as their owner trudged up a steep sandy hill
on a hot August afternoon,
Looks Like War.
A despatch from Teheran states that 1,000
Persians are at work constructing the Trans-
Caspian railway. War -like preparations
are still being continued by Russia. Rum-
ors are ixi circulation in the bazars of Tehe-
ran that war will probably occur after the
Trans-Caapianrailway is completed toMerv.
The Russians are bridging the river Murg-
hab on the confines of Afghanistan. Eight
hundred Russian infantry are .at Old Sar-
akhs. The Persians are fortifying the Per-
sian Sa ::. = and building barracks there for
een started at He-
nna. A St.
telegraph
What to Take to Picnics.
At this season of the year the question
what eatables to take to pionies arises so fre-
quently that a few suggestions may be ac-
ceptable. Many people lose sight of the
fact that good bread and butter and cold
meat are articles of which there should be
en ample supply, even at the cost of going
without :some deliceciea. A small spirit -
lamp will enable one to get, with very little
trouble, a cup of hot tea, coffee, or chocolate;
Here ie a short list of good things from which
to melte selections for a luncheon in the
woods : Buttered thin bread, buttered rolls,
pressed chicken, broiled chicken, tongue,
ham, pressed corned -beef, sardines, stuffed
eggs, hard boiled eggs, broiled smoked sal-
mon, pickles, olives, crackers and cheese,
orange marmalade, hard gingerbread, cake,
oold coffee, cold toe, lemonade, There are
many fruit syrupe which, mixed with cold
water make palatable drinks. Lemon juice
for lemonade should. be extracted at home
and carried to the picnic grounds in bottles,
The sugar may be put with it or added with
the water when ties lemonade is wanted.
When ice can be transported the bill of fare
may be improved greatly. For example,
*dada may be packed in ice, and they will
be found tempting when dinner is announc-
ed. Ice cream and sherbet also will make
the meal seem a hundred per cent. better on
a, hot day, and a little ice in the lemonade
will make it so much more refreshing as to
repay one far the trouble of carrying the
ice. But have good bread and butter any-
way. It is well to distribute crackers and
cheese among the party on first reaching the
grounds, so 84 to relieve any feeling of faint -
rem,
The Apaohe Indians.
The Apaches have smoke signals by day
and fire beacons at night, and systems of
telegraphy understood only by themselves.
The displacement and overturning of a few
atones on a trail, or a dent or broken twig,
is a ante of warning like the bugle call to
disciplined troops. The many crosses dot-
ting the road -sides of Arizona and New
Mexico mark the graves of murdered. men,
"The country seems one vast grave -yard,"
writes. Susan E,,Wallace, "if we may judge
by the frequency of these rude memorials."
Trained by their mothers to theft and mur-
der from childhood, they are inured to all
extremes of heat and cold, hunger andthirst,
They are cunning as the red fox, insatiate
as tigers, and so ingenious in preparing for
surprises that they will envelop themselves
in a gray blanket and sprinkle it carefully
with earth, so as to resemble a granite boul-
der, to be passed within a few feet without
suspicion. Again, they will cover them.
selves with fresh grass, and, lying motion -
lees, appear as a natural portion of the field.
......1••••••001MMImo.-.4116.,
She Caught Him.
A certain lady suapeotedthat her husband
was in the habit of kissing the nook, a pretty
German girl, by the by, and resolved to de-
tect him in the act, After watching four
days she heard him come theme evening and
gently pass through sato thekitahen. Now,
Katie wan out that evening and the kitchen
was dark, Burning with jealonay, the wife
took some matches in her hand, and,haetily
placing her shawl over her head, as Katie
often did, she entered the kitchen by the
back door, and was almost immediately
seized and embraced and kiaeed in the most
ardent manner. With her heart almost
bursting withrage and jealousy, the injured
wife prepared to administer a terrible re-
buke to her faithful spouse. Tearing her-
self from hia embrace, she struck a match
and stood face to fade with Katie's beau,
one of the factory boys. Her husband says
his wife has never treated him so well since
the first month they were married as she
has for the past week,
The Congo.
Stanley, the explorer, expresses the opin
ion that important steps will be taken this
year towards building the railroad past the
Congo cataracts 235 miles, The preliminary
surveys at least will be made this fall by the
engineers who have recently left Belgium to
explore the two proposed routes. One route
contemplates a through line on the eolith
bank from, Noki, near Vivi, to Stanley Pool,
to cost about $5,000,000. By the other
route it is proposed to follow the north bank
to Isangila, then use steam -boats to Many-
anga, and lay rails on the south shore from
that point to Stanley Pool, at a total cost,
it is estimated, of $3,000,000. One of the
two surveying parties, under Lieut. Van-
develde, left Brussels for the Congo about
June 1, and the other, under Capt. Zboinski,
started on July 1. The choice between
these two routes will depend upon the results
of the studies which are soon to be made.
Waste of Human Life in Africa.
About 900 miles inland of Leopoldville,
Africa, Stanley says in his book that he
found a band of slave -traders having in their.
possession 2,300 captives. " Both banks of
the river," he says "showed that 118 villages
and forty-three districts had been devast-
ated, out of whioh was educed 2,300 females
and children, and about 2,000 tusks of ivory.
To obtain these they must have shot 2,500
people, while 1,300 more died by the way-
side. How many are wounded and die in
the forest, or droop to death through an
overwhelming sense of their calamities, we
do not know, but the outcome from the
territory, with its million souls, meat be
5,000 slaves, obtained at the expense of 33,
000 lives!"
The talent of success is nothing more than
doing what you can do well, and doing well
`ever you do without a thought of fame,
4s at all, it will come because it is
e it is sought after,
BRIEF NEWS ITEMS.
Pel, the Paris poisoner, has been granted
a new trial by the court of caseation.
It is understood at Paris that President
Grevy will not be a candidate for re-election.
A cloud of grasshoppers about fifteen miles
long and two miles wide passed westward
through the agate of Coahuila, Mexioo.
James. Russel Lowell writes that he is not
and has not been, a candidate for • the presi-
dency of Cornell university nor for any
other position.
In the town of Momence, near Kankakee,
Illinois, sixty persona were poisoned by eat-
ing dried beef supposed to have comeefroru
diseased cattle.
The treasure thus far discovered by the
French in the royal palace at Hue is valued
at $2,000,000. The King of Amara is held. a
prisoner.
Christopher Mann, the oldest man in Mix-
semi,
is-
so. uri, and a companion of Daniel Boone, died
at his home near Independence, at the age
of 111.
Laborers on the Piaheen railway in India
are deserting by the hundred on account of
the ravages of cholera in the sections through
which the road is building.
By an arrangement with the Dominion
government, twenty thousand Hungarians
are to be nettled in the Canadian Pacific
railway belt in the Northwest territory.
'Unpopular tax levies caused a serious riot
at Lerida, Spain. The military were called
out and fired upon the mob, killing three
men and wounding a large number. One
soldier wax also killed.
The indebtedneaa of W. A. Jackson, the
abaeonding Texan cattle king, is now known
to be at leant $15,000. A more of cattlemen
and pleats= are rained by the failure. Jack-
son is believed to have carded $100,000 in
cash away with him,
At Ogden, Utah, Judge Powers, President
Cleveland's appointee, from whom the poly.
gamista expected clemency, imposed the ex-
treme penalty of the law. --.air menthe' im-
prisonment and 3300 fine—npon two prom-
inent Mormons convicted of illegal oohabi.
fatten.
At Philadelphia, recently, is hotel runner
known as "Charlie the Swede," plunged a
knife into the back of Joseph Maguire, with
wham he had long been at enmity, and then
leaped into the Delaware river aau swam
towards Camden. Next morning his dead
body was found in the river. Maguire's con-
dition is critical.
At East Saginaw, Michigan, recently, seer
era' hundred strikers visited all the saw -mills
and salt works in operation on both sides of
the river, and compelled them to ctos°. Mr.
Warner, one of the mill -owners, was choked
for offering residence, and two negroes, who
went to his relief, were roughly handled, At
Bay City the strikers merle an orderly
street parade, headed by a band of music,
after which a committee of their number
hold a oonfercnoe with the mill -owners ask-
ing that ten hours constitute a day's work
and no one be discharged for participation
in the strike. No agreement was reached,
the mill -owners accepting the first proposi-
tion but declining to entertain the second.
Canada in. Belgium.
A witty correspondent of The Tropical
Times, London, Eng., who is "doing" the
Antwerp exhibition with his "wicked uncle'
and the "editor," after criticising the mean
show of the British department at the inter-
national exhibition, thus descants about the
Canadian court : "Passing from the British
Diagraoeries, we enter a really charmingly
arranged court. Surely this must be Eng-
land too. There are the royal arms, there
are the Union Jacks, there are--- But no;
two smart men with 'Canada' on their caps
keep guard. We are on the ground devot-
ed to the moat go ahead of all our colonies,
the great Dominion of Canada, The aspect
of this court only makes our appreciation
of the humiliation to the mother country
the greater. Mr Canadian Commissioner
Dore deserves well of his Government. Good
taste is apparent everywhere, from the neat
cases of Canadian wood down to the very
entrances and exits.
Roast Horse in England.
There are many people who prefer horse
to beef, but, as it is a point in dispute, a
practical step for solving the doubt is being
taken in Manchester. A hundred horses are
slaughtered in that city every week, and cut
up and sold as "butoher'e meat." The trade
is carried on in the poor districts where the
steaks find ready buyers at prices rang-
ing from 5 pence to 8 pence per pound.
There can be no pretence for saying that the
flesh of a healthy horse is not fit for human
food. There are epicures who prefer it to
the choicest beef, but it has been their rare
good fortune to get " a dainty dish " which
does not ordinarily come into the market.
The question is not whether the flesh is
fit to be eaten, but whether a wholesome
animal is killed for sale. It will not pay a
butoher to buy a healthy horse to slaughter
and retail at prices lower than is paid for
beef, and it may therefore be safely assumed
that the animals ,which find their way tto
the shambles are either diseaeed or so "used
up" as to render them quite unsuitable for a
poor man's table. There is no doubt then
that a cruel fruad is perpetrated upon the
buyer of this stuff by the butcher who deals
in it, and the only way to check it is by re-
gulating the sale under specific conditions,
and this is what they are trying to bring
about in Manchester. When the restrictions
are enforced it will be interesting to note
whether horse -flesh at 8 pence per pound
can compete with American beef,
Nothing cuts like neglect. There is a
proverb that it i° pierces the shell of the tor-
toise," On the other hand, nothing heal
wounds, and _softens trial and cheers the
soul like sympathy.
Science and Modern Discovery
The present occupant of Sir Isaac New-
ton's Professorial Chair at Cambridge Uni
vereity, Profeaser G. G. Stokes, F. R. S.,
who is also Secretary of the Royal Society
of England, delivered a remarkable address,
at the Annual Meeting of the Victoria In
stitute, in London.
Prof. Stokes gave as important account
of the progress of physioal science during the.
past quarter of a century, and, reviewing
the results, specially noted that as sieentif e
truth developed, so had men to give up the
idea that there wasanyoppositionbetween the
Book of Nature and the Book of Revelation.
.He said that for the last twenty years or so
one of the moststriking advances in licence
had been made in the application of the
spectroscope, and in the information obtain-
ed with regard to the conatitution of the
heavenly bodies. The discovery that there
were in these particular chemical elements,
which were also present in our earth, exalt-
ed our Idea of the universality of the
laws of Nature, and there was nothing in
that contrary to what he had learned in
Revelation, unless we were to say as the
heathen did that the God of the Hebrews was
the Goal of hills and not of the valleys. En-
tering with: some particularity into the con,
position of the sun, the Professor mad this
gave an ides of an enormous temperature,
since iron existed there in a state of vapour.
Thia was utterly inconsistent with thepoaei-
bshty of the existence there of living being,
at all approaching in character to those we
Imre here, Are we then to regard this es a
waste of materials t Might we not rather
argue that as in anima's we ascend by
greater specialisation, so we weld consider
the differentietfon of office in difierenturem-
bora of the eater system as marks of super**.'
enity, and oould regard the nun as perform-
ing root important fmottoes for thetsyatem?
In fact, all life on our earth was ultimately'
derived from the radiation of solar beat.
Referring to the doctrines of conservation'
of energy and of dissipation, of energy, be
pointed out at some length how the sun,
so for as we could see, was not calculated'
for an eternal duration in the same state end
performing the same function aa now. We
must regard the Universe on a grand scale,
end *anthem 'was progress. 11weeontem-
plated nothing but periadivity, perbae s we
might rest content and think thing, would
go on for ever as at present ; but, looking on
the state of the Universe on a grand scale
as one of progreaa, this idea obliged us to re -
far to a First Cause.
d r sive
An a d ora was delivered rad bY Dr. J. .l<os-
lie Porter, President of Queer's College, Bol -
fest, the subject being "Egypt Historical and
Geographical," is country with whish he bad
been thirty year' intimately acquainted.
Having referred to the antiquity of Egyp-
tian records, which in ao many inetancea
bore on the hiatoryofother ancient eau ntriea,
he proceeded to describe the various changee
through which that country had passed slam
its first colonization; and, touching on its
physical ,geography, concluded by giving
the main results of recent exploration. Ona
or two specialatatements may be here record-
ed. Dr. Porter said :— " \Vere the Nile, by
some oonvulaion of Nature, or by some gi
gentic word of engineering skill, --neither
of which is impossible,—turned out of he
present channel away up to Khartoum, or
at any other point aboveWady Hale, Egypt
would speedily become desert." No tribut-
ary enters the Nile below Berber, that is to
say, for the last thousand miles of its course.
"The arable land of Egypt is about equal
in extant to Yorkshire." The White Nile,
issuing from Lakes Albert and Victoria
Nyanza, is broad and deep, never rises above
a few feet and supplies the permanent
source of the river of Egypt. "The other
tributaries produce the inundation." Of
these the dhara from the mountains of
Abyssinia is the moat fertilising, as it brings
down with it a quantity of soil. The depos-
it of this soil is slowly raising the bed of the
river as well as extending on each aide ; for
example, on the plain of Thebes the soil
formed by deposits has in 3,500 years en-
croached upon the desert a third of a mile,
" while the ruins of Hierapolia in the Delta.
which once stood above reach of the inunda-
tion, are now buried in a mud deposit to a
depth of nearly 7 ft," In conclusion, he re-
ferred to Egypt and its present condition,
saying :--"" The commerce from the upper
tributaries of the Nile, and from the wide
region of the Soudan, forms an essential
factor in the prosperity and progress of
Egypt."
SCIENTIFIC LAND 'USEFUL.
A Texan has just invented a telephoning
instrument which can be operated without
the use of batteries, and which consists of
two ounces of wire, one-half pound of steel
and a horseshoe magnet transmitter. The
instrument can transmit sound seventy-five
miles.
Tracing paper may be made by immersing
beat tissue paper in a bath composed of
turpentine and bleached beeswax. A piece
of beeswax an inch in diameter dissolved in
half a pint of turpentine is said to have good
results. The paper should be allowed to
dry two or three days before it is used.
Forest trees are now filled with dynamite.
A cartridge of .the explosive substance is
placed in a. channel bored directly, under the
tree to be operated upon, and when exploded
the tree is simply forced up bodily and falls
intact on its side. In moat instances it is
found that the tree is not fractured by the
force of the explosion.
A painless method ofextracting teeth has
been invented by a Swiss surgeon. A thick
square of rubber is pushed over the tooth
The contraction of the rubber gradually
lifts the tooth out of its bed, say in four or
five days, and neither pain • nor hemorrhage
attends the process. It will be a welcome.
boon to sufferere.
PEOPLE OF NOTE.
The great English, painter Millais will
soon add another portrait to his brilliant
gallery, that of the Prince of Wales.
Lord and Lady:Tennyeon are now:at the
Isle of Wight, where they will stay several
mouths, Lady Tennyson, has been in deli-
cate healthier along time,
The latent story about Patti, that she was
once upon a time a poverty-stricken girl and
sang onthe streets for a living, has not a bit
of truth in it. Under the care of her excel-
lent mother, and afterwards under the care
of M. Strakosoh, Patti never lacked either
money or comfort.
At the funeral of Prince Frederick Charles,
the German soldier, and father of the duch-
ess of Connaught, the duke of Connaught
who is a major -general in the British army,
wore the uniform of a Prussian General.
A Lancaster boy named Wilkie Collins
Barr wrote to Air. Collin; recently for an
autograph. The novelist replied : “Two of
your names give you a claim to my auto.
graph which ought to be the last person
living to dispute. But there is another ream
aon for my writing to you. I am especially
pleased to hear that you like Armadas, for,
if I may venture to pronounce an opinion, 1
thick drnwdala the best book that I have
written.'"
Air; G.W.Smalley, the Londoncorrespond-
ent of the Y. ,ZV.;, Tribune ; " The peerages
and other boners baatowed by the departing
government excite unusual interest. The
city is delighted with the reaognitierif'the
bowie of the two great bailees of Rothschild
and Baring. Sir Nathaniel De Rothschild'a
appearance in the House of Lords marks the
tote** disappearance of the last remnant of
politioai proscription on account of race."
Theeharacter of the English Queen is mg -
gelded in this note sent fromLondon during
the recent oriels: "The Queea'a absence from
London is a standing grievance of the Lon-
doner. She can not endure London, but she
might endure it for a few days. She hates
corning to Windsor, because next week is
Ascot week, and Ascot is so near Windsor
Castle that the noise of racing revelries, by
night and by day, only a few miles off, dia-
turb, or ere deemed to disturb, the royal re-
pose. But if she would come to Laindon for
a week, live in Buckingham Palace. give a
dinner or two, and drive about London in
an open carriage, she might enhance im-
mensely both her popularity and the prea-
tigo of the crown.
A lady In Bath, who is a firm believer in
Spiritualiem► was a chet time sgo paperingg
bar room, and bad, completed her task all
but in ane corner. It was- a difficult plat)*
to match and put the paper on amoothly,
and it did not appear that the paper would
hold out to do the work. The lady wan
thinking how she could da it, when the
spirit of a deceased and well known painter
and, paperer (as she alleges) appeared, and.
on recovering from heraurpriseatthe strange
appearance of the spirit it bad disappeared,
and the paper was on the wall as neatly and
as nice as if she had put it there herself.
The Canadian Laborenn.
To visit the .home of the Canadian laborer,
says U. S. Consul Pace, one does not die-
oover enough of difference between it and
the home of the laborer in the United States
to make the description of it a matter of in'
tercet to the people, and the same isirrte in
reference to their moral and phylicai con-
dition.
In Ontario there is about the same pro-
portion of saving and improvident, of intem-
perate and temperate, of virtnaua and vicious,
as in the United States. More time is given
to recreation, and more money is spent on
amusements there, however. The laboring
classes do not own their own homes to the ex-
tent that the same classes do in the United
States. The absence of this incentive to
save may account for much of the reckless-
neas and apathy that one aeea among the
working olasaes in Canada. The hope of
bettering their condition or the desire to
give their children a better position in life
than their own seems to be leas a vital and
constant force than with the working classes
in the United States. The cause of this is
due in a large measure to the old -country
idea of the son walking in the footsteps of
his father, inheriting his social position and
his trade, and therewith being content, A
man is a " gentleman " there by act of
pediment.
The general condition of the masses differs
but little from the condition of the same
classes in the United States. Their methods
of life, their homes, their food, their clothes,
are all similar to thoseof the working people
across the line, varying with nationality,
habits, amount of income, education, and
general character.
Philanthropists have endeavored to improve
the laboring people in Canadian cities provid-
ing reading -rooms and libraries and opening
cheap coffee houses, where the beat hood,
could be obtained at low rates. Attempts
have also;, been made to provide cheap and
pure amusements for the workmen. But the
great defect has been that all the efforts have
flown too high. The promoters have adver-
tised amusements and given lectures on as-
tronomyl They have given notice of a free
entertainment and furnished Beethoven piano
recitals 1
The provisions for the safety of employes
in mills are reported in some cases as wofully
inadequate. Some of the railway companies
oblige their 'employes on hiring to sign an
agreement intended to release them from
liability should the employe be injured or
killed while in their service, by any cause
whatever. The courts, however, have de-
cided that, in cases of carelessness on the
part of the servants of the road, at .least,
such ;contraot shall be no, bar to a suit for
damages.