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The Exeter Times, 1887-8-18, Page 6ti By the Author* of KAaa 144ssiees Fnasanoora," " Basalaiteles Abluerroaa" "Fon Lova on. KlafialaAP 2" "A 0Ormger Dirmisa," &c., See. CHAPTER I. , "Good heavens !" exelaitnecl her hueband, Within a Mile of a certain favanrite Oho, 111".. f"'~' flualling with endiden anger, hie hire watering-plaee, where everythingis voice abaktufea Oan You %Innen mo of such a wicked Wok ? Why, Hyacinth--; Ste made a gentle geseure with her elim white hand, aud smiled at hint, though her eyes were grave. "l do nob think you would play me such a trichrI k," sa said—"do not indeed Glynn. av But you are a man, and men he cleeeived women ever since the world bean, and will continue to do so, I suppose." new, garteh, and altogether unit) eety with the exception of the blue watera of the Irish Sea, lies the peaceful and secluded hamlet of Herby. It is situated but a short diseance from the sandy shore, almost hidden from view in a slight hollow on the side of a very high and, fertile hill, and is surrounded by orchards of apple and pear trees and lovely Sweet -scented gardens. It contains four zig-zag streets, without a "And you dare to place me in your yard of 'easel roadway in any of them, form- thoughts by the side of the vulains of whose mg steep ascents and suadeu deolivities in a crimes you have read in the newspapers ! way that severely tries the muscles and You forget that I am eheefully risking the nerves of a stranger, but apparently is no loss of a great fortune; that you are as inconvenience to the natives. It has quaint, necessary to me as the air I breath; that overhanging upper storeys tc its houses, with you are as pure and holy in my eyes as the fantasticallymarvecl beams crossing each memory of my dead' mother ; that you are other and forming diamond shaped panels my cousin; that your brother, whom you that arefilled in with plaster. It has one know to be ordained participates in the large low -roofed inn, a little modernised 'trick' as you are pleased to call it 1 Oh, by the laying down of shiny oilcloth upon Hyacinth, I can scarcely believe you are in the floors, Which only want polishing to earnest I" and the young man withdrew his bring out their rich dark colours, and by arm from his bride and walked on hastily, many coats of whitewash concealing the red hot tears springing to his eyes, saudstone walls; but such innovations have not deprived it of its old-world memories. Its quaint devices for the comfort of a gen- eration of topers long since passed away, ita low panelled rooms and ornamented galleries its deep window- sea ts and capacious chhuney- corners vividly recall the past. Perhaps the reason why thio little hamlet is overlooked by the crowds that year after year seek the health -giving breezes along the esplanade of the fashionable holiday re- sort so near to it is because it lies so embower- ed in trees that, were it not for the square tower of its church, one would pass by the meretricious brick and stucco villas on the shore near the painfully new railway -station, and leave the place withotit ever dreaming that such a quaint village, which time seems to have left untouched for a hundred years, existed within a mile of modern seaside civilisation. But the ivy-covered cruciform church that has so many secrets hidden beneath its let- tered pavement, and the grass -covered graves surrounding its walls, sometimes at- tract the attention of an exceptionally ob- servant visitor; and thus, although the " madding crowd" does not know of its ex- istence, Herby is occasionally visited by artists who have been "doing" Welsh and Westmoreland lakes and mountains, and by anglers, who sojourn there for the sake of a certain trout -stream that flows through the, went on, after a pause, "I am willing to run grounds of the Grange. I the risk; and, if fail, I must put up with Such was Herby on one fair and sunny the consequences." June morning, when the shadows of the "Well,' said her orotner siowly, "the leaves formed a lace-like pattern on the plan is a good one if it only turner out all broad red -gravel walk leading to the right; but there is generally a hitch in these church, and the shadow of the tower was things—the secret leaks out, or something.' thrown across the graves. Other shadows , " This secret will keep, Bob—you will too fell upon those grassy hillocks and old keep it, I shall keep it, and we will make y" half -buried headstones as three persons e., keep it.,, came out by the vestry door and walked . " "People inelove are generally fools" re cross the churchyard towards a stile thatgave ccess to a narrow lane from which the blue plied the young clergyman sententiously. "And do you imagine I an in love with sky was hidden by a canopy of lilac and la - I that gaby ?" she asked, glancing contempt burnum trees in full bloom—two men, and a uously at the tall and handsome young fel tall slender girl of some twenty or twenty- ( low whom a few minutes before she had one summers. The girl's clear-cut oval face , solemnly sworn to love and honour all the was pale, and her beautiful hazel eyes ap- days of her life, and who was now sitting peered full of sadness. Her dark and deli - on an old stone stile leading into the lane catelyearched eyebrows and long lashes were and still looking angry and mortified. perfectly black, and formed a striking con - treat to hetahair, which was soft, fine, silken, " `Gaby' said Robert. "An honourable gentleman, well born and well bred, and one and of a pale shade of yellow that it would of the kindest, best-heartedpluckiestfellows have been flattery to call golden. She was I ever knew! ‘Gaby'!" clad in a tumbled, soiled, and faded gray "I think so," replied the girl coldly ;the " I dress, her straw hat was trimmed with a strip of shabby lace, and her luxuriant hair ( should think any man a gaby who, for gratification of a whim, a faacy for a face was carelessly coiled about her shapely head; that pleases m now, that may displease her small white hands were innocent of • gloves, and on the left a broad gold band hlrhowawyeeaarry hehee, and that he is sure to of and hate in time, would risk with a flashing diamond set in it guarded a a'" such an inheritance wedding ring. The man upon whose arm she was lightly "Oh, Hyacinth," cried her brother, "you leaning was about twenty-five years of age, —and all of us—ought to be the last to re and as broad -shouldered and dark as she fuse to believe helove ! Lbok at our father — of what he gave up for our mother, and.how was slight and fair—a handsome, well-bred man, and a good one, or his noble brow, Passionately he adores her and she him, and clear frank eyes, and sweet mouth belied bow happy he is in spite of our shabbiness him strangely—a man who would proteet his and poverty I" enemy's life with his own, in whose hands "Well, they are exceptions, I suppose," any woman's honour would be safe, with said the girl, with a sneer; but let that a gentle chivalrous disposition that a slide. If a cool head can keep. a secret and wicked woman could deceive, a child or a force others to do so, this morning's business dog would trust. won't leak out until—well, dead men's His handsome sun -burnt face was flushed shoes, you know, and all that kind of thing. and smiling as he looked over the girl's Hush now 1"—and her fair clear-cut face sbabby hat, and, addressing the person on assumed its usual expression of haughty the other side of her—a fair-haired, blue- calmness. eyed young man in the dress of a clergyman "I wonder whether you have a heart —said— IHyacinth 7" muttered the curate. "It " Well, Rams not such a terrible business seems to me that you might be chiselled after all, Bob; and my wild Hyacinth is out of a block of stone, for all the human mine hard and fast, is she not 7" ' and womanly feeling you display—you are "Oh, yes, the marriage will stand firm quite unlike the rest of us." enough! It is the clergynian who always "Heart ?" she said, immediately catching has to bear the brunt when it comes out his words: "Yes, Robert, I have a heart to that there has been some informality in the be Mrs. Neville—Mrs. Verschoyle Neville, case. It will be six months with 'hard' or of Verschoyle castle and Shangannon—but a fifty pound fine if either of you drags this I have not the heart to love yonder gaby" before the world with a view of breaking it. } —dropping her voice to a whisper as they .1 tell you, Glynn, I would not run such a ' came close to the stile and her nusband rose risk for any one but my sister, besides con- and approached her. sider my conscience!" replied the clergyman, I "Forgive me, dearest," he said feeling ,with dignity. heartily ashamed of his outburst of auger; "Oh, come now—that's too much! A "[ought not to have taken ',offense at such wedding isn't a. crime! Is it, Hyacinth ?" trifle. Of course you did not mean The girl raised her white eyelids for a moment, then lowerecl,them again demurely She made no reply in words, but she smil- and leaned rather more heavily on her hus- ed at him, placing her soft white hand in hat band's arm, but made no reply in words. as he helped her over the stile. Her brother "Well, itis evading the law, you see- - followed, and the three walked dowia the and that gives one an uneasy sensation as lane together in the shade of the laburnums if there mustbe something wroneasomewhere; and lilacs, crushing beneath their feet the one cannot help feeling where there's secrecy fallen blossoms that almost covered the there's sin. You understand 1" answered ground. A little further on a grand old the yotmg olergyman. horsachestuut tree that cast a cool shadow "Indeed I do not 1" begun Glynn hastily; all about it, and towered upwards a pyramid Ned he would have poured forth a torrent of graceful fan -shaped leave e and white e words on the subject had not his newly- spiky blossoms, seemed to close the path. wedded wife interrupted him. But on one side of the massive trunk—in- " I am sorry for this,' she said, looking deed almost behind it—another stile led into • gravely from mete the other and speaking an ill -kept wood, where some of tbe trees in & low sweet musical voice. "Bob, you were dying for want of light and air, others told me—you both told me—that everything were already dead, and all ware more or was eorrect and legal. I am sure—with less encumbered with treacherous, clinging semething like a sob —"I would not have grouuddyy that it was apparently no one's consented had you told me an—no indeed business to clear away. —ane a two glittering tears showed them- , At this stilt they paused, Glynn Neville, selves on the dark fringes oiler eyes. ' still assuming the air of an ill-used man, "There, Hyacinth—there, my darling 1" as if, athetigh he had forgiven, he had not exclaimed her husband, in great distress, forgotten his wife's distrust of him, said— plaeitig his arm oohed her aard pressing his "This is the limit, I suppose, Hyacinth?" brown cheek against her fair face. "Why, "I think not," she repliedl smiling. I you're crying—crying on you're wedding- think you might come home with tue. !dare day—so awfully unlucky ! Look, Bob, at say breakfast—if you catt call out morning what you have done with your coeseience scramble ter food by 'such a name—is going and your scruples." on now; andif any one eaw tut together Before the perpetual curate of Herby end you did not come in there would be catild reply, his slater turned her face to- talking and wondering said (poetise:ling ,en wards Min) opened her large eyes—so tear.. their part, and downright lyin en nun ful and yet so bright—looked up into his —and"—With a little disdainful gesture of face, and said— . the hand—"I hate that" "It ie right? It is legal? We are married Glynn, Who had brightened visibly during —are we not t rt ie not a farce—not Mie 6f her speech, declared with emne watt -nth -- those moek marriages one tea& of in boeke Yes, t hould like to go up to the —ay, and of newspapers 06mieticees ?" Graege very mueli, dear; I delight in mak. She did not follow him and strive to woo him back to her side, as many a loving girl would have done; nor did she pout her lip and try to look indifferent. The ominous quarrel that was spoiling the first moments of t4eir married life aid not disturb her in the least. She raised her left hand, looked at the plaiu gold ring wit' its flashing guard, sighed a faint low satisfied sigh and turned to her brother, repeating the very question she had asked some minutes before— "It is right—legal? Are we married, Bob ?" "Yes. It is a little informal, but it will stand. in auy court of law in the kingdom— you may be sure of that, Hyacinth. But you will be pretty well sold if you find you've married a pauper—a man without even a profession. And you know what a hatred our usurping uncle has of as all ; if he knew Glynn was here, I believe he would disinherit him." "1 know it is a case of risk—a sprat to catch a salmon; but miles and miles of rich and fertile soil by the river Nore, and a stately and ancient castle, the hcme of our race since Henry the Second gave it to red Glynn Verschoyle are worth risking some thing for. I would risk even my life to be Verschoyl e of Verschoyle ; and her eyes lost their steady calmness and her cheeks flushed scarlet as she spoke. "Yes," she OWil coffee paid fryingrifiy ow n trout -- in feet, anythini except blewing the Ore with. my nteith.' "As you ceufht 141 doing the apt time that you came, ettid,' the oneete, gled te find the eouvereation tilting this turn. 4Yea,—the beentititl child 1 yacinth when you and I ere rieh—five or eix yeers hence—we must take Lit to Lenders and watch the world worshipping bet% Tt would be a crime to let such a flower %lash unseen' in a Cheshire village, to marry eventually the doctor or"—with a leughing glenoe at Robert Verscheyle--" the our - ate." Fiyeointh's lipquivered, aud she said with some bii tterness n her voice— "Very well; if that time ever does come, itcwill most likely come when I am fading and the flower of her loveliness is fairest— a pleasant retleution I A.h, there is my ridio• alone parent on the Iowa 1' They had now skirted the edge of the wood, and ceine tePanother stile leading into nothing more imposing than a large sloping field in which some recently.shorn sheep were placidly grazing.. It was most decidedly a fieldeaucl was called a lawn only because a large ancient mansion, in a state of partial ruin—with moss -grown roof aud "%veils inatt- ed with ivy—stretched with its tumble-down vARPTIEs, Very few peeyile know that, tie the violet tearlee carnation was the elmeau flower ef tee Stuarte. Te this idly myeteriens halide yearly deposit at Frascati and in St. Beter's et Bowe, where lie the remains, of the Car - (final, of York and other members of the House of Stuart, wreaths ef scarlet °erne - tions. `,11he bull.dog in the play, whose part was to seize the villain by the throat and hold on for dear life, succeeded the other night in Buffalo in dragging from Antler the play- er's collar the piece of liver avhieli coaxed, hi& on, and, taking it before the footlights, lie*sat down and quietly ate it, while the villain escaped. The London Tintes announces that photo, gre,phy in colors is new an aecomplished fact; that after three years of study, ex- periment, and chemical researoh, a Mr. Maya'', of New Bond Street, has prodneed several colored photographic portraits, with- out the tad of hand -work or brush, whieh possess the brilliancy and delicacy of highly ly finished minatures in oils. wes the chosen oWer of the $alieleene, the stables and oat -offices, aoress the upper end Three Frenchmen who were studying a of it. The old peak -roofed, gabled building lan- guage endeavored to translate into English volume of Shakespeare in their native lau- had no grace or beauty of its own; and yet the well-known opening to Hamlet's solito- it was a fair and refreshing sight to eyes qtry—" To be or not to be." The following sunshine, for a profusion of unoVed for, • was the result : First Frenclunan— " To was or no o am," o i j 0—." 0 tired with the glare of the sands in the hot where or is to not." Third ditto—" To neglected roses clambered over and clung to should or not to will." and ran riot through the ivy everywhere. . . The sweet-sceated blossoms spread across r.l'here is always room for suspicion when the little windows, starry sprays of jasmine conscientiousness is made a boast of, or when peeped out between the stiff, formal passion- it assumes an absolute and imperious tone, flowers. Everything but these fair gifts of or when it interferes with the liberty of nature spoke ruin and decay, and a hopesome one elee. Youth, inexperience, and lessness that have even led to a cessation of ignorance are epecially exposed to this clan - all efforts to keep up appearances. The ger. Needing the most modesty they often broad gravel walk in frout of the house was have the least. Increasing knowledge and so covered with weeds that one ot the sheep wisdom tone down conceit, lesesn positive - was nipping the grass growing between the nese, and open the mind to fairer and broad - stones. What had once been a row of stately er view. oaks was now a line of umiahtly stumps not more than a foot above the ground and : Blankets manufactured by the Navajo bristling with busby growths. A. broken Indian women of Arizona are sought as ouri• statue of Amphitrite in a grass -grown shell osities by tourists. The squaws card the with a memorial of the time when this field wool, spin the yarn, and weave the blankets was in reality the plea.saunce of a noble ;with the aid of sharp -pointed stioks. • It m- il -tension. The broken escutcheon over the quires, according to the size of the blanket, from thirty days to four months' time hall door—about which the ivy and some me to white roses were entwined—the ragged make oue. Hence they are very valuable. ,I embroidered curtain hanging at an open So skilfully and firinl,, are the blankets window, the cracked and worn flight of red made that they will shed water for twenty - sandstone steps, the dilapidated, neglected, four hours before they will leak. poverty-stricken aspect of the whole place, i This is the way in which sparrows are was such as is more often found on the made useful in Germany. Long troughs, banks of the Nore, the Shannon, or the placed under the eaves of houses, are °coil - Blackwater, than by the side of an Euglish pied by the sparrows in building their nests, river. Its appearance would have suggested When the young are hatched, and the thoughts of the Court of Chancery, had the mother goes away to procure food, wire fact not been so very apparent that the dis- screens are placed over them, with inter - order and neglect were evidently the pro. stices large enough to permit the passage of ducts of swarming life rather than the des. food in to the young, but too small to allow olation of a house of the "Cotirts," them to escape. .As soon as they are large Such indeed had been Glynn Neville's and plump they are killed, and make a very thought concerning it when—a month or acceptable article of food. two before that fair June moruing—he had The emu appears to be curiously excel). first leaned over the stile by the wood, and tional as regards domestic division of labor. looked with disapproving eyes at his uncle's Mr. Alfred Bennett, Who has studied the home, little thinking that in this remote, habits of these birds, states that the hen be. unvisited Cheshire village he should fid in gins laying about the end of October or be - his fair -faced, placid, flaxen -haired cousin, ginning of November, and in about six his wife and his fate. weeks completes the brood of twenty or (TO BE 0011TILMED.) , more eggs. In the meantime the cock be- gins to sit, and the eggs subsequently laid Bull Fighting in Madrid. The amphitheater is an immense place, round like the Rornan Colosseum, and the ring is surrounded by "terraced granite," and crowded with galleries. Six bulls were doomed to die for our entertainment, but I only out -stayed thmtaking off of three of them. 11 was the last grand bull -fight of the season, and the audience was a brilliant one. The young King and Queen looked down from their box of state; old Isabella was there with her daughters; and adjacent boxes were occupied by lords and ladies of , high degree. The first bull was very meek. His sole desire seemed to be let alone. The pica- dores, or mounted spearsmen, pricked him with their lances and he looked at them with an injured air, as if he would fain ' have said: "How can you? I am a well- intentioned bull, and I deserve nothing of this sort. One was divided between dm- ' gust at his want of spirit and indignation that a creature so harmless and kindly ' should be foredoomed to death. He waked 1 up slightly when the banderilleros came in with their darts and their gay cloaks but 1 all through one felt that he was beifig butchered to make a Spanish holiday with- out at all taking his own part, and even the matador,. whose office it was to give him his death wound, performed his task a little ; scornfully, as if it were hardly worth the trouble. The second bull was a different fellow al- together. As a youngfellow on my left ex- pressed it, he was "all there." He had a sullen, determined, desperate nature. He gored two horses to death, literally in an in- stant, just uplifting them and running them through with his mighty horns. He made sudden plunges at the banderilleros; and he pushed the great matador himself th the end of his resources; but at last he lay there dead, and the team of mules dragged him out of the arena. He was as black as an undertaker's horse ; and he had been solemn i and indignant and scornfully defiant all the way through. 1 The third bull was a little red one, as fiery and aggreesive a creature as can pos- c sibly be imagined. He did not chance to b hurt the horses, but he made swift plunges g at the cloaked banderilleros, which it took s all their skill to escape, and once he even I leaped the barrier, and caused a precious i consternation among the audience for a mo- g are deposited at his side by the hen; he then stretches forth his foot and draws them under him. He not only hatches the eggs, and does all the subsequent nursing, but has to thrash his wife continually, as she at- tacks him furiously, and would apparently kill the chicks if she could get at them. 0001 - Partly civilized countries carry out, with perfect composure, the most revolting methods of punishment. It can hardly be subject for wonder that the office of ex- ecutioner has become one to be generally loathed, when we consider what it some- times involves. The Pall Mall Gazette gives the following account of the interview af a traveller in China with the time im- perial executioners: Through our guide, we told the heasi. ex- ectioner that we wished to see the instrus ments of his calling, and thereon he pro- duced a short, very heavy, two handed sword and a long knife. We naturally put the question, "How do you use this sword? Where is the block ?" "We don't use a block. We make the prisoners kneel in two rows facing one an- other, and bending their heads doWn. Then I take the sword and chop one on each side, and the heads fall off; so on, till they're all done, as you'd switch the tops off green weeds with your walking stick." "But you don't always chop off a head with one blow ?" "Always." " What is the knife for 2" "For the ling che , or 'death by many cuts.' We tie the culprit who is condemn- ed to this death to a cross, and we com- mence by cutting off the eye lids, ears, nose and so on, ending by sticking the knife into he heart. The outs vary in number from ight to hundred and twenty, according to he heinousness of the culprit's crime." "How many persons have you executed n a day '?" "I have chopped twenty heads off in two ninutes." " Gentlerr en, give twenty cents each umehaw" (a> synonym for the Egyptian aksheesh) "to the executioners," said the uide, which we gladly did, to escape the taring of the head butcher's eyes, which lad a villainous cast; and so ended our nterview with these high executioners of the that Chinese Empire. ment. This brilliant creature made hot work for the banderilleros, aud held even the matador for a long time at bay, but at last he gamely died; the black mules drag- ging him away as they had done his brothers before him. By this time I thought I knew enough about bull -fights, and 1 left the Ring and Queen and their court th behold the other three combats without zaaN and went away to walk on the prado and reflect. My sym- pathies were all with the bulls. They were the only creatures who had no least show of fair play. They alone were doomed with absolute certainty from the start. Even the horses might escape; and at worst their torture waft but for a moment, The men vvere only in just enough danger to make the thing exoiting, and there were ninety- nine ohanees out of a hundred that they would escape scathlese ; but the bull, hit him bear himself never so bravely, was to be made an end of. Adviee must be desired and sought. Let every tabuld-be-adviaer remember that, however excellent and a propots his counsel may be, if given =leaked, ±1 ±8, with rare ecl. ceptiotie, thrown away. The advice given, by the physician mid the lawyer in not only Fought, but paid for, and it is usually more faithfully followed than, any °thee. Vnitt- Vet is Worth having certaitly werth ask. ing for, and self.respect, itS well as good tidgment, Will withhold it until then. J.' zA11111$; frog strange, SuperaMlone What VitCY1014 Anaeug the Welifera 11)1140rgre4nd.. The Mexicantainers are very euperatitious. Sixty fathinip down. the " Despatehes," One of the entrancee to ,Valenciana, mine, is a, chnrch 'where Jalapa are 'kept tentinuelly burning. The miners lineally speed an 'hour in it on going to or returning from work, and one of them pees, without bow. iug to the images. In the mining districts of the Ales there eneta a belief In a spirit knovvia as "Master Hoemmerling," er the "Monk of the IVContitain,,". who imuelly ap- pears as a giaat covered with a black hood Some wonderful traditions are in vogue in connectionwith this Monk emopg the miners of the Hartz Mountains. Going to the other extreme, they believe in the exietentie of myriads of tiny creatures who, in a spirit of iniechief, give them a great deal of trouble. yet are frail:idly' to them withal, frequently indicating the 'best lodes. They are said to wear clothes like the niinersaud carry picks, lanterns and hammers. In the mines of the Kuttenberg, in Bohemia, these tiny breatures are frequently eeeu in great num- bers ascending and descending the pits, es- pecially whensomegreat misfortune is about to happen. The miners hear them scraping, diggingand striking the rocks, and if the forge is fired. up they use it with so much industry that they are called the "little domestic smiths." In Idria the miners every day place food in a particular spot for them, and little jackets now and then, to conciliate the little 'fellows., Another superstition exists in co&nection with what are known as corpse .ndles. They are regarded as omens of death, and miners have been known to fiee from one colliery to another on account of them. We learn from The Oswestery Advertiser that if a Cornish miner ou his way to night work meets a stranger and receives no answer to the customary " good -night" greeting, he regards it an °emu of ill luck. "111 wishing and " over looking," which are nearly Went ical with the " evil eye," are delusions still existing among the miners. A sinister look or a muttered expression of discontent is readily recalled by the miner when any misehance follows. Whistling in mines is not permitted. Many miners object to enter a mine on Good Friday, Innocent's Day and Christmas Day, believing that some catas- trophe will attend the breaking of the prescribed custom. Miners do not like the form of a cross under ground. If they see a snail they drop a piece of tallow from their candles beside it. "The miners of Devon," says Prof. Jones, "place great faith 'n the virtue of a horseshoe fixed to some of the erections of the mine to prevent witchcraft. It is supposed that the devil always travels In circles, and is consequent- ly interrupted whenhe arrives at either of the heels of the ,shoe, and is obliged to take a rctrogade course." The miners of Corn- wall consider it very unlucky to destroy a colony of ants. They believe that if a piece of tin was eelaced in their haunts at a certain age of the moon the tin will turn into silver. An End to English Coal in the Black Sea. The new Russian Minister of Finance, Vishnigradsky, beams to be as ultra -protec- tionist as his predecessor, Bringe. Under his auspices a revision of the iron and coal duties has been taken in hand, of which one of the earliest results will ie the complete suppression of the Englieh coal trade with the Russian ports'of the Black Sea. Twice dating timbals, ew years the tariff has been re- vised to check the influx of British coal; the measure now proposed, and sanctioned so far as the ministers are concerned, will extin- guish the trade altogether. In place of coal from this country, south Russia will draw its supplies for the future from two sources —the Denetz region and the Transcaucasian deposits at Tkvibuli. The latter lie between Poti and Tiflis and haye just^ been joined to the Transcaucasian Railway by a short but very costly branch line that has taken several years to construct. The coal of the Tkvibuli district is of excellent quality, lift close to the surface in great abundance, and is easily worked. Hitherto the only coal competing with the Enzlish at Odessa and other ports has been that from the Denetz region, which, having to be conveyed many hundred miles by railway to theecoast, has never been able to successfully compete with the English ! article, in spite of a duty of five shillings a ton in its favor. The Transcaucasian supply, however.elies close to the coast, and it is estimated that the carriage from the mines to Odessa will be sufficiently low to enable it to suecessfully compete with Eng- lish coal, even with the existing duty. How- ever, to settle the question of foreign corn- , petition once and for all time, the Russian • Governmentmeans to crush out the English fuel, and.the rivalry will then lie between the coal from the Denetz and the coal from Transcaucasia. OiTERAL IsTM a pTitolueerenia9111.'ttitdt, oferthailloolittmyeatipp rVerltietdthbibert One home and moved into cheaper qearters, that she thus might be able to give $1,000 a year more to eharity than she otherwifie oould have done. The heoltmen of Yi.eforift, British Cciluin- bia, subscribed $100 toward the celebration of .the Queen's jubilee at that place, but the hack ordinance was published in the Co1on4e, read' they asserted that thie, by apprising visitors of their riehte, reduced the hack- inoen:yPerctoistshbdaend. they refused too pay the mnu Ida Bolo, who worlmM a Reading hotel, arose the other morning with a stinging sensation in her head, followed by a terrible headache. She went to a physician, who re- moyed from her ear au ugly -looking night bug about a third of 'an inch long. The in- sect was one of the bugs often seen flying in the vicinity of strong lights at night. a Celia Forbin, ef, Kenon, O. was Wall reugh the new Court House ab Tiffin wit t th, some young friends. Suddenly she stepp d up to the marriage record and dared any young man present to take out the 'papers and make her his. The challeuge was ac- cepted by a young man of the party, and the knot was tied at Fostoria the same night. •A citizen of Cincinnati thought that he had a sure fortuue in a kitten which had five heads, five tails, ten fore legs, and five hind legs. He also thought that it also ought to have about forty-five lives and was good for many years, but after a brief career of fifteen days the little monstrosity died, the result of too much handlieg by the cautious. Mrs. S. A. Crane, of St. Joseph, Mo., sat in her window iu the fouith story of her house theother night in order to get a breath of fresh air. She dropped asleep and fell out of the window, and when picked up from the ground, seventy feet below, was found to have sustained no more serious in- jury than the breaking of one of her toes. 1 The Rev. I. C. Bagley, of Camden, N.J., , was called upon recently by a stylish -looking couple who desired to be wedded. There being no impediment, the pastor soon made them one flesh. Thou the groom handed the clergyman a large official envelope mark- ed "A present, with thanks." Upon open- ing the envelope Mr. Bagley found inclosed the sum of ten cents. The other day a well-dressecl little woman called on Liveryman Thompson of Portland, Me., and said she had a horse and carriage for which she had no further use, and which she would sell cheap. He said he would look at them. She went to another Mary stable, hired a horse and carriage, returned, struck :a bargain with Mr. Thompson for $110 cash, pocketed the money, and walked away. She has not been seen in Portland since. 1 James Delaney, a trackman on the Santa Fe road, said to some of his companions when a couple of tramps were mangled hut • week, "13oys, 111 be the next man killed on this road." A few days after he was caught :between tracks on a trestle by twa trains, :and in attempting to escape fell head fore- most on the rail. He was decapitated in- stantly, while his body was thrown'xipthe other track and torn into shreds. 1 The University of King's College, Wind- sor Nova Scotia, is the oldest of all the BrAish North American colleges. The royal charter under which it was founded in 1788 explicitly provides that its academical habits 41 shall be the same as those of the University of Oxford. And its encenia is conducted every year v ith all the pomp and circum- stance of an Oxford enema. The Rev. Dr. 'Tease Brock, Oxon., is the President. 1 A young woman of Portland, Me., awoke the other night to find a man no:packing her , bureau. She screamed, but thaerglar, with great coolness, said, "Keep etas, sis ; I won't hurt you. All I want is the trinkets." Her screamahowever, had alarmed the house, and the burglar fled. He left his hat behind in his flight, and the gentleman of the house, in hopes that it might serve as a clue to his detection hung it on the hat rack in the hall. The family then retired again to rest. In the morning it was found that the hat was gone. The burglar had returned later in search of his head gear, found it, and once mere made off unmolested. The Duel in France. The French have not yet got over their fervour for the duel as a convenient anda handaome way of settling p•ersonal disputes and fully setting forth the immaculate puri- ty and honour of the combatants. How it affects thus is not easily seen by onlookers. ' Only it is thought to do so 'and that makes all the difference. The notorious fire eating swash-buckler, Caassagnac, had an attar of this kind in hand lately though at this writing itis not settled how the affair has gone. It seems that General Boulanger has been talking dee coup d'etat, if Ire has not been plotting one. 11 would also appear that he is a bit of a blab who cannot keep his own counsel and therefore one would fatty not very well suited for a game that ' involves either the gain of crown or the loss of a head. It was also said that he had said that eighty-four Preech generals asked him to head the movement in which they aceirinIgcl altogether, lri,ina Ce4ssagnac dertifd the .a, , tho writro the article which revealed the plot returned to the charge and gave the eighty-four names. Hence the propoeed settlement by the cluelle 1 It is a poor, stupid way of vindicating one's honour, hut if Cassagnac could by this plea be gathered to his fathers the lost might be something It, him, but it , would be a decided gain to the Feetteli world in general, as well as to all in love With deeeeey arid respectable tended. The fihildren's Jubilee. One of the brightest and happiest features of the Queen's jubilee, recently held in Eng- land, was the treat given to the school- children of London. A large sum of money was raised by a subscription opened by one of the London papers and on the day fol- lowing the regular jubilee celebration, thirty thousand nal: girls and boys gather- ed in Hyde Park. They were taken in a certain proportion from all the public schools of the metropolis, and a great many of them came from the most wretched and squalid quarters of the great city, issuing from miserable courts and alleys, from dreary houses teeming with beggarly occupants, from hot and dirty streets. Possibly many of them had never seen a park, with big shade trees and pretty lake, before. Many diversions were arranged for their amusement. They were amply fed on cakes, lemonade, and other good things. Punch-and•Judy shows and a hundred other amusing things attracted their attention and laughter. Rinds played, and there were sounds of music and merriment all over the park. Each child also was sent home with a little memorial of the day in ,1 the shape of a mug. The Queen herself, and the Prince and Princeee of Wales, visited the throng of , poor little children, smiting at them, and saying kindly words to them. Surely then was not one #moeg all that multitude who will OVOI" forget the pleasure and fun of the , Queen's Jubilee., In these days muck more attention is paid than formerly to the amusement§ ,and reoreatious of children, Not only are the children Of well-to-do or wealthy parents provided with amusements in Many forms, bub public-spirited and benevolent people have establiehed sodieties for giving pleasure, now ancl then, to poor children, whose parents cannot afford to procure thein recreation. are-, The pientioters of a benefit, concert* being desirous of acquainting their patrons With the fent that' the tiekets were "nub tranefer- able," In a notice at the foot of the ticket in these words ; No gent admitted unless he comes hisself." A child fell into a 70 -foot well at Pome- roy, W.T., the other day, and as she fell grabbed one of the buckets, which went to to the bottom with her. The mother on missing the child went to the well and began to turn the windlass, and found that her child WU hanging to the rope below. "About the time the mother gave out," says the report, "the bucket from the top met the one half way down coming up with the child, which had presence of mind enough to catch the ,descendieg rope and rest her mother, who soon rallied sufficient strength to pull her jewel to the top. The child sus- tained only a few bruises." A Startling Prediction. 1 Two hundred years ago in China there was just such a craze about natural gas as we have La this country to -day. Gas wells ,• were sunk with as much vim and vigour as , the celestials were capable of, but owing to a gas explosion that killed several millions iof people and tore up a.nd destroyed a large district of country, ,leaving a large inland sea, known on the maps as Lake Foo Chang, the boring of any more gas wells was then 8,nd there prohibited by law. It seems, ac- cording to the Chinese history, that many largo and heavy pressure gas wells were struck, arid in some districts wells were sunk quite near together Gas was lighted as soon as struck, as is done in this country. It is stated that one well with its unusual pres- sure, by induction or back draught pulled,„ dowu Into the earth the burning gas ot.et smaller well, resulting in a dreadful exho- sion qf a large district, destroying the habitant; thereof. Lake Foo Chang rests on this district. The same catastrophe is imminent in this country 'unless the laws re- strict further developments in boring so many wells. Should a similar explosion oc- cur there will be such an up-heaval as will dwarf the most terrible earthquakes ever known. The country along the gas belt from Toledo through Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky will be ripped up to the depth of 1,200 to 1,500 feet tied flopped over like a pancake, leaving a chasm through which the waters of Lake Erie will come bowling down, filling the Ohio and Mississippi val- leys, and blotting there out forever.—Am. Poen 'Rh at JitiMy Wanted to KUM. If there is anything about the lesson you do not understand," Said a Sunday, eehool teacher Who had been explaining the crossing of the Red Sea "just name itland I Will endeavor to make the matter dean" Jimmy 'Williams wanta to ask a ques- den " said Tobe Green. "'Very good. What le it that you wish to knew, jimmy ?" questioned the teacher stavely. "Where Waft Moses when the light went out 1' sang nut Jimmy in a squeaky voice. A r, +01