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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1888-3-22, Page 6NETTIE 8 flTIIEI CHAPTER XXI.—(ConmED) "Poor mother he has been :sneering at ea all in his dreadful °yid* way, and knocked her up iato eine a her awful head- aches," said Nettie'who felt extremely angered, by the greve tone a rebuke in the letter, and tossed it over to her mint with- out alisolutely reading it at all. Miss Head - worth. Wag a good deal distressed and anxious to know whist Mrs, William Egremont meant; but Nuttie positively declared, Oh, it is her headaches 1 You know elle alwaya had them mom or less, and they have grown a great deal worse since she has taken to, sitting in that horrid, stuffy, per- fumer, oigar.ry room, and doesn't take half exercise enough." And wheo Miselleadwortle slowed herself much concerned about the Estate of things, Nettie coax ad her, and declared that she should fancy herself unwelcome, and have to go and be a lodging somewhere instead of enjoying her reprieve. Aura Aunt Ursel was tar less impervious to meting than, she used to be when she was the responeible head of a boarding house. She did most thoroughly enjoy the affection of her great niece, and could not persuade herself to be Angry with her, especially when the girl looked up smiling and said, " If the worst wane to the worst and he did disinherit me, the thing would only right itself, I always meant to give it back to Mark." No great aunt in the world could fail to admire the generous spirit of the girl who Caine back from the greet world of luxury, so loving and happy in her humble surround. ings. The only sighs were for poor Alice, in the hands of a man of whom Miss Head- woeth knew so much evil. If she were not wretched and a victim—and Nubble did not think her such—she must surely be get: ling spoilt and worldly. Her daughter simplied fears of this kind, yet who -could read her letters and think so? Nuttie was fortunately too muoh in awe ea the Cationese to write all the pertnesses that tingled• at her fingers' ends, and .she sent a proper and fairly meek letter, intim- ating, however, that she was only too happy to remain at Mioklethwayte. It was two or three deers more before she heard again. "IY1 OWN DEAR. CHILD —They have let me write at last, and I can say how much I like to think of your nestling up to dear • Aunt Ursel, and how glad I am to find that she was well enough to enjoy you. It is almost like being there to hear of you, and • the only thitig that grieves me is that your • father is very meat vexed at your setting offin that sudden way, and at my being so foolish about it. His eyes have been very bad, and he missed me sadly while I was laid up. We are neither of us very strong, anri we think—if Aunt ITmel can keep you for a little longer—it will be better for you to stay on with them, as it might be as dreary for you RS it was last winfete especially as the 'Rectory folk will •soon be going into residence. I will write to therm aboutit and persuade them to take something for pule board so as to make it easy for them: And then you can have a fire in your room ; you rause not leave it off now you are used to it. My dear, 1 wish you would write a little apology to your father. I ought not to conceel that he is really very angry, and I think it would be well if you expressed some regret, or if • you cannot truthfully do that, ask his par- don for your impetuosity; for you know he cannot be expected to realize all that dear Aunt Ursel is to us. You cannot think how kind your Aunterane has been to me; I did not think she could have been so . tender. This is the first)etter lever had to write to you, my own dear child. I miss you every • meneent, but after alait is better you should be away till your father hat overlooked this expedition of yours. I am sure he would if you. wrote him a real nice letter, telling how you were really frightened, and that it was not a mere excuse. Pray do, and then you can come back to your loving little mother. "A. E." "As if I would or could,' quoth Nuttie to herself. "Apologise to him indeed, for loving the aunt who toiled for us when he deserted us. Poor little mother, she can't really expect it of me. Indeed, I don't think she quite knows what she wants or whether she likes me to belherejor at Bride - field -1 My belief is that he bullies her less when I am out of the way, because she just gives way to him,and does not assert any principle. I've tried to back her up, and it is of no use, and I am sure I don't want such a winter as last. So I am much better here; and as to begging par. dont when I have done nothing wrong, I am sure I won't to please anybody. I shall tell her that she ought to know me better than to expect it 1" But Nettie did not show the letter either to Aunt Ursel or Mary Nugent; nor did she see that in which Alice had satisfied them that it might be better that her daughter should pay them a long visit, while Mr. Egremont's health required constant attendance, and the Canon's family were at Redcastle. And as her husband was always open-handed, she could make Ur- sulass stay with them advantageous to their slender means, without hurting their feel - :Aga, She told them as much as she could, but there was more that no living creature might know, namely, the advantage that Gre- gorio had gained oVer that battle -field, his master, during her days of illness. The first • cold weather had brought on pain, anger and anxiety, nervous excitement and sleepless- I ness, which the valet had taken npon him to main with a narcotic under a new name I that at first deceived her till she traced its effects, and inquired of Dr. Hammond about Unwillingly, on her account, ho en- lightened her, and showed her that, though the last year's care had done much to loosen the bonds of the oubtle end alluring habit, yet that any resumption of it tended to plunge its victim into the fatal condition of the confirmed opium -eater, giving her every hope.at the same time that this propensity,' ought be entirely shaken off, and that the ira roverherit in Mr. Egremont's health and habits which had set in might be confirmed, and raise him above the inolination. Could she have been rii of Gregorio, she would have felt almost sure of victory ; but as it was, she believed the man ale, soletely meant to baffle her, partly out of a spiteful rivalry, partly because his master's temple indolence could be used to his merit advantage. She was absolutely • certain that his sneering tone of remark swede her husband doubly disinclined to let any religious book be near, or to permit her to draw him to any Sunday observance. The battle must be fought out alone. The gentle woinan could have no earthly helper in the streggle. The Canon and Merk, the /only persons who could havegiven her the ( slightest aid, were beth at a distance,.ern if her Wya). heart could have brooked (loofa - mon to them, and she only hoped that Nettie would never kisow of it, Only aid from above" could be with her in the daily, hourly effort of cheerfainao, patience, and all the resources of flainihine affection, to overt the temptation; and she well hnew that the preemie° of the ardent, unsubdued, opinionative girl would, alas 1 Andy- double the diffioultes. So he acqui- esced, at least for the present, in Nuttio's grand achievement of having brokeo si.svay trom all the wealth end luxury ,of Bridge field to return to her simple home and good old emit, Mark was a gooa deal vexed, but Natie did not care about that, attributing this displeasure to Egremorit clanship ; Mary Nugent was doubtful and 'anxious, and thought Weer duty to reconcile herself to her father hut Miss lieadworth, who, be it remembered, had reason to have the worac impressions of, Ur. Eeremont, rejoirted in her young niece haviog esoaped from lam for the time, and only sighed over the impossibil- ity a Alice's doh) g the same. And when Net- tie described, as she cotostantly did, the var- ious pleasures she had enjoyed during the past year, the good old lady secretly viewed her as a noble Christian heroine for resigning all this in favour of the quieb little home at Micklethwayte, though reticent before her, and discussed her excellence whenever he was alone with Mary. Nor would Miss Nugent vex her with contradictions or hints that what Nubble was giving up at present might be a dull house, with her mother engrossed by an irritable semi -invalid, and the few gaieties to be enjoyed by the help of the Canon's family at Recloastle. She did ask the girl whether Mrs. Egremont, being avowedly not quite well, might not need her assis- tance; but Nuttie vehemeotly disavowed being of any possible use to her father; he never let her read to him! oh no he celled her music schoolgirly, a mere infliction; he never spoke to her if he reould help it, and then it was always wibh a sort of sneer; she believed he could not bear the sight of her, and was ashamed of it, as well he might bel For Mrs. Houghton's disolcsures had rankled ever since within her, and had been confirmed by her aunt. "But that is very sad," said Mary. "1 am so sorry for you. Ought you nob to try hard to conquer his distaste ?" "I --why, be cares for nothing good 1" smiling. "Not for your mother ?" "Ohl She's pretty, you know; besides, she makes herself a regular slave to him, and truckles to him in everything, as I could never do." • "Perhaps she is overcoming evil with awed." "1 am afraid it is more like being over- come of evil. No, no, dear Miss Mary, don't be shocked. The dear little mother never would be anything but good in her • own sweet self, but it is her nature not to stand up for • anything, you know. She seems to me just like a Christian woman that has been obliged to.marry some Paynim knight. And it perfeotly provokes me to see her quite gratified at his notice, and ready to sacrifice anything to him, now I know how he treated her. If I had been in her ptace, I wouldn't have gone back to him.; no, not if he had been ready to crown me after I was dead, like Ines de Castro." "1 don't know thist you wbuld have had ranch choice in that case." "lay very ghost would have rebelled," said Nuttie, leughing a little. And Mary could believe that Mrs. Egre- mont, with all her love for her daughter, might find it a relief not to have to keep the peace between the father and child. "Yet," she said to herself, "if Mr. Datton were here he would have taken her back the first day." • CHAPTER XXIL • DISENCHANTMENT. He promised to bur me a bunch cf blue ribbons.' St. Ambrose's road was perfectly delight- ful as long as there was any expectation of a speedy recall. Every day was precious; every meeting with an old face was joyful; each interchange of words with Mr. Spyers or Gerard Godfrey was hailed as a boon; nothing was regretted but the absence of Monsieur and his master, and that thefavour- ite choir boy's voice was cracked. But when there was reason to think that success had been complete, when Miss Headworth had been persuaded by Mary that it was wiser on all accounts not to mor- tify Alice by refusing the two guineas a •week offered for Miss Egremont's expenses; when a couple of ivies of clothes and books had arrived, and 'Ursula found herself settl- ed at Micklethwayte till after Christmas, she began first to admit to herself that somehow the place was not all that it had. once been to her. Her mother was absent, that was one thing. Mrs. Nugent was gone, that was another. There was no Monsieur or Mr. Dut son to keep her in awe of his precision, even while she laughed at it. There were no boarders to patronize and play with, and her education at the High School was over. If she saw a half -clothed child, it was not half so interesting to buy an ulster in the next shop, as it was to turn over the family rag -bag, knit, sew, and contrive! Somehow things had a weariness in them, and the lit- tle excitements did not seem to be the ex- quisite delights they used to be. After having seen Patience at the Princess's it was not easy to avoid critioising a. provincial Lady Jane, and it was the like with other things of more importance. Even the ritual of St. Ambrose's Church no longer struck her as the ne plus- ultra of beauty, and only incited her to describe London churches. She resumed her Sunday -school classes and though she talked at first of their red- ness and freedom, she soon longed after the cleanliness respectfulness, and docility of the devised little Bricigefordites, and utter- ed bitter things of Micklethwayte turbu- lence, deolaring—perhaps not without truth —that the children had grown much worse And as Mr. Godfrey had been superinten- dent during the latter half of the time, this was a cruel stroke. He wanted to make her reverse her opinion% And they never met without "Now, Ursula, don't you re- member Jean Burton putting on Miss Pope's' spectacles, and grinning at all the class." "Yes; and how Mr. Dutton brought, hire up to beg her pardon. Now, was any notice oaken when that horrid boy—I don't know his name—turned the hymn they were say. ing to her into "Tommy, niake room for your uncle ?' " • "Oh, Albert Cox 1 It is no use doing anything to him, he would go off at once to the Primitive' "Let him 1" "1 cannot make him a schismatic," "1 wonder what he is now 1" Besides-, Mies Pope perfectly provokes impertinence," "Then I wouldn't give her work she can't do." • Such an argument as this might be very well ab the moment of provocation, but it became tedious when reeurred to at every meeting. 'Nettie began to wonder when Monks Herten would be inhebititted again, and how much totice Lady Kirkaldy would take of her, and she wag a good deal distap- pmated when Mark told her that Lord Kirks:day had been begged to underteke a diplonostic naission Whielt would keep them Abroad all the winter. There was a attain wearinoos and Want of ititerest. It was not exaetly Oust there I was uothing intellectual going on. There ; were the lectures, but they were on oheMis- !try, for whioh Nettie cared little. There were good solid books, and lively one's too, but they seemed passe to one who had heard them diseuesed in tewn. Mary and Miss ,• Headworth read and talked them over, and ' perhaps their opinions were gait° as wise, MISCELLANEOUS. He who would see his sons and daughters thoroughly and truly gentle meet forbid selfislinees of action, tudeness of speech, carelessness of forms, impoliteness of cons duct from the first, and demand that in childhood and the nursery shall be laid the foundation of that good breeding wheal is and Miss Nugent s conversation was equal ; I to thaten of any of Nuttie's Londou friends, 1 " ewo I price to the mature man and woman. but it was only woman's talk after all—the !brilliancy and piquancy, the touch and go, ; she had enjoyed in Lady Kirkaldy'a draw- ing -room was lacking. IMr. Spyers was too much iramereed Iperish matters to read anything eeoular, and neither he nor Gerard Godfrey seemed ever to talk of anything ,.but parish matter. There was not the slightest interest in any - g bey end. Foreign politics, Egropean cele. brities,—th ngs inwich Nuttie had learnt to t ske wearn:interee t when With the Kirkaldys, were nothing to them. Even Mary wonder- A gen Heinle's, in Atlanta, Ga., is peculiar. ed at her endeavours to see the day's paper, ly afflicted. One of his eyes is aerie blue in and she never obtained either informal= cola and the other is a light grey, In the or sympathy unless she came across Mark. .daytime—from sunrise to sunset—he can- not see anything out of the blue eye, but sees distinctly and well with the grey one. Hie hearing is sirailealy affected. He can hear only on the blind side; thus he can hear with one ear during the daytime, and with one ear during the night. He never discovered this until recently. The caste prejudices and superstitions of India are graclually breaking off ender the influence of western oivilizetion. Nothing has takee a stronger hold on the Hiudoo mind than the absolute necessity of widows remaining widows till death sets them free. Very recently, however, a Brahmin widow in Bombay has broken through all these caste restrainte and has remarried. A thing of this sort only needs a beginning and is sure to be followed. It seemed to her that Gerera oared less for the peace or war of an empire than for a tipsy cobbler' taking the pledge. • The monotony and narrowness of the world where she bad once been eo happy fretted and wearied her, though she was ashamed cif hereelf all the time, and far too proud to allow that she was tired of it all. Aunt Ursel at her best had always been a little dry and grave, an authority over the two nieces; and though 'softened, she was not expansive, did not invite confidences, and home was not home without the play -fellow. mother. And most especially was she daily tired of Gerard Godfrey! Had he always talked of nothing but the colours,' chants, E. C. U., ele,ssea,:and teetotalism ? Whatever she began always came hack to one or other of these objects, and when she impatiently de - (dared that she was perfectly sick, of hearing of the U. of Sarum, he looked at her as guilty of a profanity. Perhape it was true that he was narrower than he had been. He was a good, honest, religiously -minded lad, but with no great depth or grasp of intellect; Ursula Egre- molt had been his companion first and, then his romance, and the atmosphere of the com- munity in which he lived had been studious and intelligent. His expedition to Redoes. tle had convinced him that the young lady lived in a different world entirely beyond his reach, and in the reaction of his hopeless- ness, he had thrown himself into the excite- ment of the mission, and it had worked on him a zealous purpose to dedicate himself totally to a religious life, giving up all worldly aims, and employing the small capi- tal he oould call his own in preparing for the ministry. Mr. Dutton had insisted that he should test his own steadfastness and resolution by another yeat'a work in his present situation before he took any Mr. Viratson, an English eleribrician, would steps. •bring about war without bloodshed, He He had submitted, but still viewed him- would fire a shell, chemically charged with self as dedicated, and so far as business amyl nitrite, so that it might fall and burst hours permitted, gave his eervices like a upon the deck ot an enemy's ship, for exam - clerical pupil to St. Ambrose's with the pie. Thereupon every living thing on board greatest energy, and perhaps somewhat less would be knocked down insensible, and oast judgment than if Mr. Dutton had been at into a state of temporary paralysis. This hand. Being without natural taste for intel- would endure for an hour or two—sufficient, leetual pursuits, unless drawn into them by ly long for the mightieat ironclad to be made his -surroundings, he had dropped them ea. secure against further mischief, and her tirely, and read nothing but the ephemeral crew to be made prisoners. It is an ingen. controversial literature of his party, and not ious notion, to say the least of it. Abler much of that, for he was teaching, preach- the bad -smelling yellow liquid called amyl ing, exhorting, throughout his spare time; nitrite there is no doubt about the power while the vicar was in too great need of help of its ?tunes to stupefy and make insensible. to insist on deepening the source from which It is cheap, too, and easily obtained ; note - his zealous assistant drew. As MisieNugent MY by passing nitrousi fumes into amyl al, observed, teetotalisnrwas to him what &Sea cohol, the chief constituent of fusil. oil. pation was to other young men; ' The great remotion in the old country is • (ao B.......03.....‘E CO NTILTNED. ) really over the land, and in spite of all that caat be done in the way Of prevention, a re - Japanese Politeness- volution and a very thorough one is in pro- gress. It may end in the adoption in part The men of Japan are always excessively of George's land theory. It certainly will polite to one another. e They bead their end in a greater fixity of tenure tie the eau - backs and bow their heads and put their al cultivators, and much less power to those two hands back to baok between their knees who call thethselves owners in the way of and have a great time. But the most absorbing improvements which others have amusing thing is to see two old ladies in made in exacting rack rents because land is Japan meeting one another on the street. always a necessity. It may be all very well The street is empty, we'll say, and they at present to laugh at the discussions over catch sight of one another three or four the unearned increment and to denounce as blocks apart. • They "immediately begin to anarchists and every thing that is bad those make obeisance at one another and they who pretest against the community giving keep bending and bowing at short intervals to individuals the absolute control of any until they. come together, when they make part of the earth. But in spite of that the that peculiar hiss by drawing in theebreatla day will come, and that not in the far off and keep on saying " Ohayo" for about two future, when any " corner s' in land will not minutes. The young things, the e Moos- be allowed and when the actual cultivator mais," are very charming and graceful in will he first considered, sotthat if two fami- their greeting of pne another, but the old lies cannot be supported the one who does ladies are ornate and elaborate in their ad- not work will have to go to the wall. dress. And the language has been framed with a view to the necessities of peliteness Has there been for some time.past a de - and of difference in rank. • "Are," with terioration of manners going on in what is accent on the e, ie the verb to be. If you called good society, and especially so in the are talking to a coolie, somebody very much deference' and politeness which men were below you, " are " is good enough for if iehr in the habit of displaying to women at all If you aretalking to one a little below you, times and in all places? Women also, it is or you wish to bepolite to an underling, you said, are throwing off that modest reserve use " mimes." If you are on formal terms which has always been their heritage in with an equal, you say " gozerimas," and their intercourse with men,. and are adopt - when you address a man high above you in ing that easy familiarty whioh soon breeds rank you make it " gozarimasuru." ibi, a, contempt. Perhaps there may be something elastics language and pulls out to almost any in this, and it is possible that the change length. complained of is attributed to the move - ,.....a. ment in favour of the equality of the sexee, ' Thelloods in China. If women, ib is said, insist upon being men's equals and rivals, they must expect to be SAN FRANdisCe Mar. 6.—The steamer treated as equals, that is with as little care - San Pablo has arrived from Hong Kong and mony as men show to each tither. The Yokohama, bringing a few additional details often quoted colloquy in a street car be - of the second disaster on the Yellow River, tween a gentleman seated and a lady.stanci- which occurred Deo. 4 and resulted in the ing puts the point very well: "Are you drowning of three mandarins and 4,000 Chin- an advocate of woman's rights 1" "Yes, I ese laborers. The men were at work at the . am 1" "Then take you rights and stand." time repairing the d ean age caused by the pre- .vions floods. Two thousand bemb o rafts What upon the whole is the best way to make children a n hied been laden with stones in order to form uisanee to themselves and a breakwater, but the rafts with all the peo- ple on them were engulfed as soon as they reached the middle of the river. Great differ- ing is reported from the flooded districts. Cold weather came on and the country was flooded, making it impossible for boater tonna every fault excused and condoned and the Itis estimated that 20,000 sacks of millet 1 rzsidul_t " if I hadwill not be long doubtful. One has , stalks will be needed to stop the great gap, ' an ill will et children, if I ' wanted to ruin their body and soul and 1 eaoh sack requiring fifty large coats to bring I it to the spot. So fat the utmost exertions i spirit for time and for eternity I would give them all their own way." And he was right The boy that was allowed to kick his nurse , and brow -beet his mother will to a dead ' . the children whom they want to bless! certainty burn out a passionate, disoipated, a ' ill -condition young man who nobody will be , inclined to tolerate. The indulged girl groves into the exacting unscrupulous woman whom ' all instinctively hate. There may be excel). I Mame-gum', in the Deputment of the 13ouches tions but as a rule ouch a result te to be I leoperateatruggle on the bank,Iand if s head motherreckoned en, In that case. what lots of , dialthone, the other day. The animal made hadto bebattered in with a club before ie 30111a. s' are doing their very best to curse ' ba mastered, A. monster Of &Similar kind some Dr, I Talmage has lately beet coining out ' time ago had eaten up a boatiesin and his 'strongly in defence of the young women of boy whose boat hed been capsized in the the present day and in protest agaitet the river. Shreds of the clothing of the victims . continued ory over the "good old times" had been found in the tieh's beside aft er it s and the wonderful graces and virtues' of the was captured. • grandmothers. He says the girls of to -clay are •as far ahead of those muCh belauded auces- An English traveller told. a Belize (Hon. tore when they were girls as the railroads durae) newspaper men that he had eaten a and Pullman cars aro ahead of the mud "scorpion pie" while in Mexico, end that he roads and the old stages of other times. liked it. The natives told him that young This perhaps* is putting the thine rather too ocorpiosia were frequently. utilised for food etrotigly. Tema would be more guarded for the.lower classes, who dig them from id ita Ottawa e,,nd less exaggerated in its their nate in hundreds, ivinceee the sting, contrasts. 'The girls of toalay are quite as and make omelets" of thetra ( pretty, modest and well infornied as any ef One of the elements of our happiness springs from the fact that we do not know the future. How large a part of the pleas- ure of life is shattered and blighted by an unreasonable antieipation of coming evil 1 How nmell happiness would be lost if a man knew that he would be sick to -morrow, that a friend was to be atricken down, that a mercantile venture was to go awry, that this or that evil was to come ! He would • have no heart for the smile and laughter and sunshine of to -day, glad and bright though it :night be, if he were overshadowed with the cloud of a certain misfortune that was to come on the morrow. . A greater nuisance in a small way than the encore at concerts and other public enter. teinments could not well be imagined. Every aensible and selarespecting man and woman ought to set their faces against it. Singers and players are simply bullied by suchim- pudent and unreasonable demands. - In fact it would seem as if many calculated on this in advance so that if a primaldonna is adver- tised for three appearances they calculated upon six if not nine. Now this is harsh, un- mannerly and unjust. It is trying to get money or money's worth under false preten- ces. Approbation can be easily expressed and acknowledged without any of this ma seemly encoring. The most of it, to be sure, is done by bad, unmannerly boys, but some too often are found taking part who ought to know better. to all who have anything to do with them? •There can be very little doubt about how such e, question ought to be answered. By all means let them have all their own way, let their every whimsbe inclulgea and their those who have gone before,' and quite as Weneanly and'holpful in spite of all that has been said and done about NITOmanse Rights, and feminine emancipation. The grand mothers were and. are first rate. Woe to the man who flays a word against them. But the grand daughters are not a whit be hind them and. will in due time reek° as good " grannies as ever figured in ohild hood's dreams or at en old men'a fireeide. Did any one over help a deeerving Person who came begging at their door/ We ha o put the question to many, but never to this day has an answer in the affirmative been returned, Not only have they been frauds, but the helper has found out that they were. Let any one try by going over the lasb twenty yeares experience and he will see. Do you remember when you were sent to an address on the other side of the Don and found it a vacant lot? Da you re member another trudge which landed you at the door of a throe story mansion? Can't you think how you were,diddled out of that quarter by a pitiable whine from lips that even then stank of whiekey ? Did you never go in and find the dead husbend busy at a pot of beer and puffing for dear life at a cheap cigar? Were you ever humiliated when you asked at the House of Industry for the antecedents of your pet protege? Did you never strip your house of old clothes and find by and by that you had been "done brown '' ? To be sure you have, and have you never known docent bread given pro- fessedly to a hungry man thrown contemp- tuously to the first dog that passed? Of courae, of course. And what is to be done? Shut up your bowels of compassion? Not at all. But be oure and enquire 031 the spot for particulars either personally or by some men that is exoustonaml to such work. There has lately been a very ourious case of ecclesiastical discipline up before Lord Pemzenee in England. A clergyman in the diocese of Hereford used water instead of wine in the administration of the Lord's Super. The churchwarden complained to the Bishop who inetituted proceedings and the clergyman .was eventually admonished and compelled to pay 0 °Sta. TRUTH cannot see that that clergymen did anything wrong. Evidently water would often be a safer as it is a purer liquid than wine with which to observe the saored festival. To a con- vert from Mohammedanism to Christianity the use of wine muse be seriously objection- able. and in any case was there any signifi- cance in the use of the wine except that it happened to be on the tab'e and was the ordinary beverage of the country? Had that ordinary beverage been water there is every reason to suppose that it would have been used and it would have served every purpose equally well, both in the way of symbol and memorial.. A well.known Chinese missionary has be- come nearly as celebrated for his tooth drawing exploits as for the eloquence of his sermons and the number of hia converts. Scarcely a letterfrom him for years which did not tell of his extracting forty or a hundred teeth at one place and preaching the glorious gospel 1 All this is very well. Toothache is a dreadful calamity. No person suffering from it, if possessed of only ordinary nerve, could possibly listen with comfort to the beat sermon ever - delivered and therefore tooth drawing may often be a very neces- sary preliminary. And so another preacher has found, A Congregational minister in the neighborhood of Sunderland, England, has during the last six years extracted up- wards of thirteen thousand teeth. This re- presents a wonderful amount of suffering either alleviated or removed. It has all been done "free gratis" for nothing, and has so moved the gratitude of those oper- ated on - that they have presented their benefactor with a case of the most. modern dental appliances. The Chinese missionary would evidently be greatly helped by a similar present. The preponderance of opinion seems to be that the long, weary struggle with the Crown Prince is nearing a close and that it will in some way, as that of General Grant, be ended. Perhaps never did any one's sickness awaken such a wide -spread interest and sympathy. "Our Fritz" has long been looked upon as the very ideal of a good- natured, fine-looking warrior who detested war and had no penchant for what the world calls glory." He has also been looked on as the representative of -German Liberalism and as one .who would give free institutions a fair chance whenever he had opportunity. And now it would seem as if all the changes and improvements anticipated when the old. Emperor passed away are all to fade away as an idle dream, and absolutism under his eon is to have a new lease ot life. Perhaps things are not so bad with Prince William as rumour reports. Perhaps that Prince is not so brutal'to his mother and so glad at his father's illness as malicious gossip would have it believed he is. Lies often go about people of very humble position and still more about those who live in the fierce light that beats upon a throne. In any vase, what Providence may send ellen to be waited for and aoquieeced in. There will some day be a soatteting of the people who delight in war, and, if Europe is again to be scourged by the ambition of two or three unscrupulous and selfish men, there must be a need for it. The most of the warriors and Bo -called heroes, both of ancient and modern days, did not know verywell what end they really served and their best -laid plans have generally turned out most foolish and futile dreams. There is a great deal of Sunday labour in Germany and it would appear that there is no great likelihood of its being made less, for those who are engaged in it are greatly in favour of its eentinuance. A Government mvatigation on the subject has brought out some curious facts. Returns have come from ! 30 out of 35 province:3 in Ruda containing 500,156 m anufacturing establishments and 1,- 582,591 worktnen. Of these factories it was 1 found that 5715 per cent. kept at work on Sundays On the other hand the larger number of workmen. rested on Sundays, namely, 919,564s As regards trade and transportation it was found that in 29 pro- vinces out of 35, of 147,318 establishments' of one sort and another employing 245,016 per- sons, 77 per cent. were open on Sundays and 57 per ant. of the employees worked that day. This state of things is certainly fathom creditable and one would have fancied that the working men would have been anxious to be delivered from sus& bondage. Bat what are the facts? A canvas was made of those interested and an informal vote taken on the question of prohibiting Sunday labor, arid valet was the result? Of those consultea in the fectories and dotes only 13 per cent, of the employera and 18 per cent. of the employed were in favor of total pro- hibition. In the smaller induseries only 18 per cent. of the, employers and 21 per cent. of the employed. In trade 41 per Cent. Of the former and 39 of the latter while in the trateportatiori or railroad lines only 12 per cent, of employers and 16 per cent of the employed were anxious to be free from the bondago of continuous labor, It is thus evalent that in Protestant Germany at any rate, the craving for Sunday rat, even among thoee who need it most, eanna be so great as is generally supposed, have not succeeded in collecting more than thirty sacks a day. Eight million teals have already been expended OR repairs. Struggle With a Dogfish. A gigantic dogfish, weighing 10 hundred weight, was hauled ashore by a fisher at aaa. PERSONALS. The Grand Duke ofBaden wiehes to take thelu ArnoIerolota. n tour, but his inioisters oppose h J'osepli Chamberlain's collection of or. chide in his home, near Birmingleane, are valued at $50,000. Gabrielle Greeley, daughter of Horace, is tamest as striking a figure as her renowned. father. She must be hard upon 35 but is full of force and vitality. During the absence of Dom Pedro In Earope, the executive authority of Brazil has been confided to his daughter, Princess Isabel as regent, Ledy Charles Mike is writing a book on her recent travels with her husband, She is trying to arrange with Lady Butler (Eliza- beth Thompson) for illustrations. , Prince Barclay of Ramie, whesm the Czar dismissed from the army basalso he allowed his child to be christened liethe Lutheran faith, has now been notified that tit" infant will be taker:fa:an him unless he consents to have it re -christened in the ek rite. . Wilkie Collins was asked the other day how he came by Count Fosco, the only fat villain in fiction. "He was an agglomera- tion," replied the novelist, "and I made him fat because a lady once made the re. mark to me at a dinner party that no peva- hat could make a really lifelike fat villain." Lord Dangan, it is said, has listened to reason, and, at the earnest entreaties of his father, Earl Cowley, has consented to re- nounce his marriage engagement to the heart. woman, Phillys Broughton, and travel in America,. Some thousands of dol- lars will soothe the young woman's broken The death of Gideon Nye, U. S. vice. consul at Canton, China, is announced. He was the oldest foreign resident in China, e having been there eines 1833. He amassed . a fortune of about $6,000,000 and lost it all. At the time of his death he was writing a history of China's relations with foreign powers. Lord Dufferin, who has just come back from India, is considered one of the luckiest men in the world. He hat tad the most comfortable berths in the gift of the govern- ment, culminating in that which he has just abandoode, and for which he received 237,000 a year, including allowances. He is now to be sent as ambassador to Rome,in order to become entitled to the pension which he would not get as viceroy, and the government is cudgeling its brains to find a new honor for him. His earldom will be turned to a marquisate, and then the noble lord will not lack tides. He will be mar- ., quis, earl, viscount, baron, baronet, a. lord lieutenant,- an F. R. S., a]). C. G., LL. D., etc. Leoture to Girls. We have any number of nioe ,yehang ladies among its readers,. and it has every i confidence n its speedily having a great many more. It does not, however, like to play chaperom to them or to dose them with any amount of good advice in the shape of wise saws. Hints when they come by the way are all right, but formal lectur- ing as a general thing does not effect muieh good. Still a nice little bit of a lecturer' sometimes may do a great deal of good ' For instance, what would our young lady friends say to tlae following 7— -• It is sometimes thought if a girl has been educated ata high cleseachool, she must be cultured, but some such girls are the most uncultured of persons. One need not be rich, or educated, or travelled, in order to be oul- tured ; but only sure that all sides of her being grow in harmony. Culture does not mean music or French, but womanhood. Very few cafe be rich, a small number edu- cated; but °Miura is for all. Be determin- ed to know something, even a little, of the best history, theleest poetry, the best bio- graphy, the best of art, the facts in science, and the beet thoughts of the best minds— ten minutes eaoh day five or six solid books a year, nob nere stories. The best in aerie and sentiment is as cheap as the poorest. There is no excuse tor reading trash when the standard works on all subjects are as cheap as the poorest; no more than for walking in the mad when a• clean side -walk is provided. Not expensive but select reading gives culture. Gather a little stand- ard library of your own; you will respect yourself, and others will respect you for it. Keep na scrap book; fill it with the best things. Nothing reveals a girl's line of thought more than her scrap book. Read and think; read a little and think much ; read when at leisure, think when at work. • Co -Operation. Co-operation ie novr carried out in many different ways and generally to the great advantage of thole concerned. The great danger is from dishonest efficiels and from imperfect checks and inspection, but even for these some efficient remedy may be de- vised. The last form of this °cooperative work is that of a society in London called the "Tenants, Cceopere.tion Limited." This society proposes either to buy or erect blocks or cottage dwellings in London and the suburbs, and to let them to members" of the society. Fair rents, according to the current rates of the locality, shall be charg- ed to the tenant's; and after making proper provision for expenses, depreciation, and interest on loan stock and other loans, a dividend of 4 per cent. shall be paid on the share capital, and the remainder of the profits shall be divided an -king the tenants in proportion to the rents paid by them, and when so divided shall be carried to the cre- dit of each tenant's at:comet until each has as much capital in the society as is equi- valent to the value of the dwelling inhabit. ed by him. Alta such period has been reached the dwelling occupied by the tenant will remain the property of the society, but he will be entitled to receive his shoos surplus profits in cash. Tenant shareholdr era will thus acquire hearly all the adva;,*, tages of being the owners of their. dvvelliags without incurring the liabilities attaching to the pueethase of a house ,through a building society,or the difficulties of letting or Boll- ing their holism' should they have to remove from the locality, as is so frequentlythe case with Lendon workmen. This- plain if fairly and honestly managed) would seem to promise great advantages, and might be tried with advantage on this Side of the At, !anti° as well. .6311--.411100111.--1. , Charles Boz Dickens. Charles Dickens recentlywrote hie name on a New York hotel register "Chas Boz Dickens," and steisi to a friend: "That was a little joke of my grandfather's, who was present at my christening, and when my father, in reeponse to the clergyman, gave my name as Charles my grandfather mut. tered 'Bos' and the miiiieter put it in. Thio is my information, at lisaet ; 1 do not tetnember the circumstances myself, But I am told that Charles is my baptietual. name." '