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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1889-1-24, Page 3tiowestetigeontesenoteetaworxdd wed =UMW Staletailhaillarniltaintr, Petttrinainletteeaseattetelgai '413tilitintilallattatdt OLD WIVES' LAICEgi TO THE LDTA area.; the flames leap up to a height of thirty BRI.DGB feet er more into the air and if the wind LATEST FROM EUROPE. Irfaoketizie and the Cellege Ciermany Spoiling for a Fight—The, Et Afrioan War. The censure of Sir Morel! Mackenzie by the Royal College of Phyaioians for publish- ing "The Fatal Einem Fretlericle the No- ble" creates little comment in Lonclon where the action was anticipated. Months ago it was stated that the Thu- preas Frederick had written a letter to the vicepresident of the college willing him not to preen the resolietien which she understood be was topop, on the ground the.t quell eerious expreleion of °Pinion tillght be re garded as reflecting upon her and other ad- whiersof the late Emperor, but little credence is giveo to the story. Diplomatic circles in London are agitated concerning the Semoan Affair,. and the pos- sibility of a rupture between Germany and America is being canvassed. A Sydney letter on the subject of the Samoan troublea, which appears in the "Fiankfurter Zeitung," declares that the truth of the report that the rebellion was instigated by Americans 10 frankly am knowleclged by all English correspondents in Samos, all of whom deeply regret them notion taken by the Amerans. Captain Leary, the America commander, is severe. ly reproached for encouraging Mataafa. The rebels, it is assorted, owing to the lack of ammunition, would,. long ago have con- sented to negotiate had nob American tradera promised the arrival of a atoamer from Seri Francisco with arms and ammuni- tion. The letter also indicates that the turning of the British Consulate into a hospitel led ro the German complaint that the British offieiele were showing sympathy with the rebels. The insurgents the other day attacked the German missiou Station at Danies-Salem in which were a number of natives who hadre- cently been freed from slavery. After a sharp fight the insurgents were repulsed. At Saticlani there has been continuous firing be- tween the war vessels and the insurgents on the shore. At Lindi and Know, the insur- gents have allowed the British and Indian 1 residents to leave, sant many of them have I arrived at Zanzibar, There is no abetement of the anti. German feeling among the natives. The Governor of Mozambique has return- ed from Zambesi, where, after severe fighting he defeated .Bonge. The whole province remains in a state cif insurrection. In the fight at Dar- is. Salem the insurgents were defeated with great loss ; two Germans were wounted. A Monkey That Talks, The New York Sun says: Charles El. Ball of this city owns a monkey which is attract- ing considerable attention. The animal is 5 ybars old and weighs 6 pounds. All of his joints are double. Among the many accom- plishments -of the monkey is his ability to -talk; nof only can he say "papa," "mamma,' and "caokoo," as well as any parrot, but he will when hungry say, "Jack wants his grub." Mr. Ball is the proprietor of a shooting gallery, and whenever he leaves his rifles in o disorder Jack places them in their proper ' plates. He is afraid of drunken men, and whenever one enters the gallery and begins to practice withthe rifles Jack seeks a place of safety behind the stove, evidently fearing he Will be hit by a, stray bullet A boy. hom Mr. Ball employs in the gallery is often left in charge of it o For some time Jack would scream as if he were receiving a whipping whenever he was left alone with the 'boy. Mr. and Mra. Ball be- lieved the boy did abuse the monkey, but upon watching him one day, they disccvered that he was sitting in a chair screaming for. his own amusement. Jack is full of tricke, and likes nothing better than to get at Mrs. Ball's paints, when hemill daub himself all over, always choosing red in preference to other colors. Asphalt Pavements Kill Trees. In connection with the repaving of Brook- lyn streets, which has became a subject of presaing concern through the recent out - giving of the mayor, an interesting point has been made concerning the effeoet of asphalt pavements on the trees. Experience bows that in streets where such pavements have been laid the trees do not flourish, if indeed they do not speedily wither. The reason is not far to seek. Apparent on a moment's thought that it is almost impossi- ble for water to penetrate to the roots of the trees beneath such an impervious cover - leg, and hence their decline is inevitable. No plans are now in view for increasing the asphalt pavements in Brooklyn, but this matter is worth keeping in nunctagainst the possibility that the question may be raised e at some time in the future. Asphalt • pavements have certain undoubted advan- tages, along with equally undoubted dis- advantages. The drawback mentioned here is doubtless seldom taken into account. —Mew York Tribune. Different Points of View. A minister, with a rather florid complex- ion had gone into the shop of a barber, one • bif his parishioners, to be shaved. The bar- ber was addicted to heavy bouts of drinking, after which his hand was consequently un- steady at his work. In shaving the thintster on the occasion referred to, he inflicted a out sufficiently deep to cover the lower part of the faint with blood. The minister turned to the barber and said, in a tone of solenin sevetity, "You see, Thomas, what comes of taking too much drink." "Ay," replied Thomas, "it mak's the skin verra termer." • should should chance to blowing et all An Interesting lteserintien o all Interest. 1 hriablY the Progress of the ruin is incred- , tug country. ibly rapid, Deo prairtes in the vicinity of the Old- THE SWIFTEST ANIMALS Wives, Lakes, ad for a long &amen beyond ion the plains being often suffocated by the them' am re covered with an exceptionally dense smoke or caught by the devonring thicksward of meet luxerient graemis, be- fire in epite of their utmoat efforts to efieape. tokening et once the excellenew of the soil Generally their must deetractive revagee and sufficiency of the anemia rainfall. In- are confined to the still (Teo unoccupied deed, the mere presence of so many land- wild lands ; but occasionally t'he farrn of a locked, and consequently alkaline, sheet,' of settler is invaded by a fire borne onward water Is proof euilicient of the existence of from the prairie by en unusually high Wind the latter of therm conditions ; while they do in an exceptiouelly dry season, and then not overflow their banks to any appreemble the chances are that his most strenuous of - extent show e that the mean temperature of forts will prove unavailing, and he will have the air is warm enough to keep teem within to bear the Agony of seeing the labor of hie bounds by the evaporation of their aurplus hande sacrificed to the insatiate .oPPetti'e of waters, Bitth of these conditions are emi- the fire demon. What °awes the fire to neatly favorable to the operations of the start is generally unknown; n accidental agriculturist; and, as soon as the much- sperk from the pipe of a soletery traveller; needed . an unextinguished brand lefe smouldering mon on itamoriewune in the ashes of a oamp fire; a still -burning rises to the flood, the settlers on these cinder belched from tize smoke -tack of a plains, when they have Beoured a eufficient passing locomotive ; a Rath of ligtning ; aupply of eweet water for domestio lour- or even the quasiwpontaneous combustion poses, will find thet tbe district is about resulting from the accideeteelly focused equally suited to the growth of -ordps aid rays of the sun; any one of these, and pore to the cattle induetry in all its brandiessibly many other, caueea may be the enigin Nor need they fear then; the exuberant of some of the ntost widespread and des. vegetation to be seen on all sides is a thing, tructive conflagranious that deve,etate the of recent origin, due to some capricious prairie Section so often end so unexpectedly. climatic change and liable to dist:appeal- The oarlessness of the native Indians has without warning. A glance at the prairieg frequently had to bear the bleirrie ; but I in any direction in this immense distriot have been aseureci by very many officere will reveal to the most inexperienced eye a and men of the Mounted Polies that the perfeot network of old buffalo trails, easily imputation is unjust, and that the aborigin- distinguished from the more recent trails of es are, of all travellers on the plains,. the the domestic and ranch cattle by their most greaterwidth and depth, and by the direct. sysrlitrandenwr CAREFUL nese with which they invariably lead to tlae and cautious in everything relating to their best watering -places in the neighborhood ; camp fires, never pitching their tents tilt large areas are also fairly pitted by their they made the site fireproof by treading "wallows," or mud bathe; and the whole down or burning the surroundiug grain, and. surface of the country was, only a few years never leaving a fire still burning when they ago, thickly strewed with their bones and strike their camp to move into other guar. heves. On every side there is ebundant ten, Some time ago people used to think evidence that this region was one of the that the prairie grasses were Improved in favorite haunts and feeding -grounds of these 'quality and quantity by being burned oyer; mighty monarchs of the plain, and therefore but this is now generally held to have been thet it was especially distinguished for its an erroneohs impression ; it is seen that the fertility in the dap of old. To -day the native grasses do not require tube impiov. buffalo its a lordly roamer over his wide do- ) ed, and that there is, in fact, no room for main, is a thing of the past; but other improvement; whereas the damage is un - GAME IN ABUNDANCE deniable, not only in the possible deatruction of crops or even of life but in the produw tion of broad temporarily wasee acres of un- sightly, blackened maim, over whioh dry, scorching winds constantly blow, and on which no dew can ever fall. Precautioes of various kinds have, therefore, been taken to guard against the common enemy; a fine of, .0 believe, two hundred dollars is thee pen- alty for starting a prairie fire by wilfully or carelessly allowing the grass to become ignit- ed by a camp or other fire ; around each farm -house and barn -yard, or whenever stacks of grain are built in the open country, "fireguards" are made by ploughing a broad strip of land over which an ordinary fire can- not leap; all along the railway tracks simi. lar fire guards have been ploughed, or else the grass has been burned away for several yards on either side and, finelly, the ubiquitous Mounted Polio° are furever keep- ing a may be found to reward the adventuroue sportsman who is willing to go in search of M. Graceful antelopes may frequently be seen gazing at a safe distance for a brief space inquisitively and suspiciously at the passing train, and then bounding off lightly to reach a still safer vantage ground on the boundless expanse. The thrill, sharp bark of the cowardly coyote may occasionally be heard, dying away into a most unzrzelodious howl as he turns tail and fliee with lightning speed across the turf. The gregarious prairie.dog may also be seen indulging in antic gambols with biendemure, sedate -look ing fellows among the regularly laid out burrows of their city -like warren. And of course the ubiquitous gopher, or ground equirrel, is to be met with here as eleewhere all through the country, busily plying his industrious little feet in utter disregard Of trains, sportsmen and all such trifling causes of disturbance. Near Morse station is an- other pretty large alkaline lake, and a few miles further on we come to Rush Lake, a wide area of fresh, sweet water almost con- stantly tenanted by MYRIADS OP WATER PowL of various descriptions. Ducks, geese, swans and even pelicans in countless inunbers have adopted this lovely sheet of water as a favor- ite resort:, and the would-be sportsman must Indeed be a wretched fowler who cannot se- cure an exceptionally lenge bag as the fruib of a day's shooting along its reed -lined shores. The vast numoers of waterfowl to be found in almost every quarter of the North-west Territories, and the unknown variety of their species and genera constitute a marked and far from unimportant feature of the country. Their principal food con- sists of small fish, marsh grasses. and other aquatic products, animal and vegetable, so that in their natural, wild state the flesh has a strong, fishy, unpleai ant flavor; but wheneveri their habitat s within convenient distance of cultivated lands, they make predatory incrusions into the wheat fields in the fall of the year, and by picking up the fallen grain among the stubble render their flesh as deliciously pump and free from fishiness as the most epicurean gourmand would desire. Nor do these raids work any serious injury to the farmer; sometimes they are a decided benefit, because this appropriation of the loose grain scattered on the surface prevente it from being plough- ed into the soil and thus coining up a "volun- teer" crop to disturb the calculations of the agriculturist, who may possibly have intend - to sow an entirety diffrent kind of geed. And In any case he is amply rapid for, the toll levied on his fields by the -abundant sup- ply of DELIcIOUSLY PALATABLE FOOD thus placed within his reach, whenever he may desire to add some of the nhoicest wild ',fowl to the contents of his larder. Another peculiar feature of thie part of the country is the frequent occurrence of alkaline and fresh water ponds, separated from each other sometimes by comparatively slight distances, and offering at first sightno explanation to account for the difference, in the character of their contents. Closer ex- amination, however, reveals the fact that the fresh water lakes and lakelets are on the conree of some running stream which ultim- ately finds its way bo the sea, while the sal- e ponds and marshes are generally land - eked, their alkaline properties being most robably due'as I have pointed out in a riner letter,th the fact that they have no utlet. Each kind of stream or pond re- ives the same proportion of alkali as the her from the asheil of the burned prairies, rid I do not know of any more eatistactory planation of the difference between them an that now suggested. No one who has even once witnessed a prairie fire, and has In lo fo Ce Ot a th dflt The Strength of Evidence, in _ Ac;i itudent said to a distinguished lawyet w one ay, " I cannot understand how circiiin- &Andel evidenee can be stronger than It," tive testimony." "I will illuetrate it,' said so the lawyer. "My milkman btings me a can eu of milk, and says, 'Sir, I know that is pure ' milk, for I drew it front the Cow, washed the can throughly, strained it into the can, and nobody else has handled It.' Now', when eke the cover from the can, out leaps a bull trog. Surely the frog 10 stronger evidence, hem the man I" arked the frightful havoc and deatruction rought by one of thete terribly 4 DEVASTATING CONFLAGRATIONS ill find it difficult to account for the pre- noe of so much alkaline matter on the dace of the grounds by attributing it to The Tower of Babel. The Eiffel Tower "at Paris has reached the k great height of 200 meters, or about 660 feet. A latge flag was rim up. to apprise Paris of the eyent. The tenter is nein go high that, stanching on abet:wily overlooking the Bout°. Ward de Coureelles, t speetator is able to glee it reaching far e away above the intervening ttrooadero hill and the tall, houses etancling thereob. As it stands it is 'far the highesb erection in the world, The tOwer will prab. ably be ready for the painters earlier than the Contraotor en4aged to let Oetri haveit. The intention is to carry the StrinSture to unprededented height of 1,006 fedi MOST VIGILANT OUTLOOK to detect the first faint line of blue smoke which indicates the commencement of the fire, and, if peasible, to extinguish the in- cipient conflagration before it has got be- yond human control. Some unthinkiug people, indeed, seem tto consider this the sole duty of these hard-working nittn ; and to hear such people talk one would imagine that the police were in some mysterious way accountable for every fire thab burns across the plains, and that they ought to be held responsible for all the damage that may thus be caused, But, then, there will always be some unreasonable people in every communiby. Nothing, apparently, can, for the present at least, prevent those disasters; they will grow less and less frequent as the country fills up with set- tlers, and farms take the place of the cattle ranges and unoccupied tracts of prairie. Not greater vigilance, but: MORE IMMIGRANTS, is what the country wants, and until these have been located in eufficient numbers there will not be an end to prairie fires. But in the meantime the present settlers might do something to distribute the occasional losses from this source, so as not to let the whole burthen of fate fall on the heads of an odd unfortunate here and there i a mutual associ- ation for protection against loss by prairie fires might be organized on a plan somewhat simian- to that previously auggested for pro- tection &gained loss by the early frosts in Manitoba. The settlements in this motion are neither numerous nor large, though they are all growing, and some few give signs of such robust vitally as augurs well fordtheir future. Swift current, 115 miles from Moose Jaw, is an important railway divisional point, round which a town is growing upto supply the i wants of numerous ranchers n the neighbor- ing country. At Maple Creek, anothenessein flatly ranch town, there are extensive yards for tbe shipinent of cattle; and nob far from the infant town is a police station and alio) an Indian village orthe Cres. From orrer, the next station, on to Dunmore, looks of the geological peeiodknown as the Crete:moue age occur, in whioh numerous specimens et gigantic saurians and other extinct monsters have been discovered. The following story is going the rounds of the United States press, whioh, if true, re- flects veryseverely upon the state of tartan in the vicinity of Montreal, and it untrue, ehould at once be contradicted. The state., ment is that at Coteau Rouge, Quem diph- theria broke (Wein a man's family early in the inonth,of Deeember, and he could get no physician to come into his house until four were dead. No neighbour would go near the cause, or lend any assistance.'The man took the bodies to the cemetery, but the sexton would not bury them, and he was compelled to leave them on the ground—one of them without a coffin and a mooted in a coffin too small, go that Ito legit protruded. At lob a physician from a neighbouring town volun- teered his servioee, and the family were the washing out of saliv oaredfor.aubetancee from . the ashes produced during centuries of simi- MalagegyBible, on Which for several lar osaastrephiere. On several years past the Proteetant missionariee of deuing trip 1 had opportunities of see- ing the prairies onfire, sometimes close at hand, sometimee at a long way off, in iso- lated spots of small area, or embracing wide tracts in their devouring progress, shooting up to the sky in gigantic pinata of smoke by day or illuminating the heavenswith the lurid glere of their cloadoapped pillars of Madagascar have been engaged, re now completed. The reviaion has been carried on at the expense ancltunder the direction of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The principal reviser won the Rev, W,E, Cleaning, of the London Missionary Societe?. Engaged n the work were delegates repreeentative of the different miesionaty eocietiee and three fire by night ; but no matter when; / native helpers. Eleven. emote have been ommpied in the work. where or how I Might chance to observe then', however deetaly 1 might be fartoinat. The cruelefst neglect 'women ever receive ed by their appalling beauty end magma ficenoe 1 Wes alwaye, I think, far more foreibly int teased y an overwhelming :ftoni pieta Who etei Mani the gelfiele ab. Berption of the latter in ether *omen. Clate. and *neer se deafened the vision,net athilet sense Of t eat te ttble deetruotinertoite , 'leafless . , the ear. , and Of Merit's ineoteptitencly to grap, I A Chinese dealer in Fresno was Sent to pie With Oita an all-powerful etigneel lett for eight days Lor plucking A live, tut - Of deVeStation. Heat:Ikeda of sentare Mike I key, are sOttletiineti bittited o'er by on�. of theseel 1/Iodified Ititecithire gOWeg gittv In favetit: conflagrations, the Are nteking,o eliSeit itWeetep Plush and elOtliarti freqttently conibined Of every .parthild Of vertinto hi the (Mike ' in long cloaks'. . WOKENI ?BIWA. T.here is no feature of Oriental life which more forcibly attractthe attention and stimulatethe curiosity of Earttpeans concl Amerielins than the coodition of the women of the Eeet. The pottier berriere which have so long surrouuded and seotaded teem in Turkey and Egypt are gradually yielding te the pressure ot conteou with Europeem rime% But in Persia these extraerclutary limitatioes to the development of society continue in full foroe and form one of the greatest obstacles to the introduetion into that country of the ineprovemeats which mark the progress of oivilimidion in the Nice. teenth Century. Mauy estrum that the laws and cuetorns regulating the condition of women in Orion - totem& are due to the !nand etes of Mehemet. There could not bo a greeter mistake. 14e - hamlet /Amply continued in force and Maul - °mad in a taeocratio code principles existine on the subjeot for ogee in the liiast. It is originally 5 quattion of race rather than of religion. The ancient Greeks believed in VIE SECLUSION OP WOMEN: 80 did the Zoroastrian Petsiens, so do the pagan Bait Indians and Chineme, and even some of the Asiatic ehriebiens, such as the Armenians, while the Arabs of the desert, aud the nomaelio tribes et Persia entirely' dis- peuse with most of the regaletions °utile sub- ject followed by Mahometans elsewhere. At the outsee we may say than any sym- pathy we may feel for women on account of sucii enforced seclusior may be resetved for other purposes, as they are not anxious to have these customs abolished and feel much sympathy ior their European sisters and sometimes a strain.; aversion toward customs which allow a wonia,n to show her face or nook and arms in public. It is, after all. a Matter of usege, or as the Turks say, a,deb; all ot which is further shown by the circumstance that, while the Persian i analeten with horror at the idea of exposing her face except in the presence of her 11114 hand, she is but ditele, disturbed sae is seen walking throuvh the swats bare above the lames. If a stranger is suddeuly die - covered aPproitching when her mantle is down she hastens to draw it tightly over all but an eye, at the riek, perhaps, of display- ing a large patient of her figure. After all, it is a question of adet. COST The indol'our4cioNsptuwmReof PuemrEsian women, from the princess to the elave, is one ot the merit extraordinary ever invented. In the nature of the ease it could only be warn in e. warm, dry climate where the seasons change with the slow, imperceptible movement that marks the program of old age. Tnis eos time consists of a jacket or cheinisette more or less decorated with needlewm k. It is eaughb on the bosom by a single button and reachesto within a few incites above the hips. The middle portion of the body is uncovered. A skirt far more abbreviated than that of a ballendaucer is attachecl to the hips and, when starched, stands out in a manner that plainly indicates ib is INTENDED MORE FOR SHOW TITAN FOR weneener. Thab is all, excepting a pair of embroidered slippers somminaes and long masses of braided hair often reaching far below the waist. The Persian women are very handsome/ having a' Spanith complexion and a form end expression that are more refined than those of the pure Turkish or Tarte races. The limbs are long, but shapely trait which seems especially to mark the Persians, perhaps because of the way they have of sitting on the knees and heels. Until the age of nine or ten a Fenian girl goes unveiled and wanders at will. But about thab time she enters on what to all Oriental wornands the chief and the inevit- able condition of her life --matrimony. Very likely ber husband. is some youth with whom she has played in childhood. Per- sian men marry at 14 to 16 and the wonaen at 10 to 12. There are no old maids in that country and very few bachelors. It is com- mon to finel a. young gentleman, and some- times one of lower condition, with two or three wives before he is 20. This custom has been followed there for thousands of years, and the Persian race is still far from effete, either physically or mentally. The Persian women are, however, not very pro lifio, and many of the children die young owing to poor diet and ignorance of sani- tary laws, and thus the population is kept down. As soon as she marries the Persian woman enters an anderoon of her own. Thisis a terin equivalent to harem and means literal- ly the inner apartments. Clubs are not pernutted in Persia, nor, indeed, would they easily become popular, because in the and- eroon a Persian has a club of whioh he is the little god, while there the Nude me men wield an influence as great, if not greater,than ANY ENJOYED BY EUROPEAN WOMEN. After the day's work is done, after the visits of ceremony have been paid, after the stroll or the canter when the sun is drawing low and his setting rays are tinging mountain and field with a roseate glow, the Persian gentleman retires to the seclusion of his anderoon. Once there and the door closed, no one eat enter but the eunuolis or the laves. The master is alone with his family. Sheriffs and creditors can not disturb him, nothing short of an order from the Governor Of the Shah. _ Now it is that the woman exerts her in. tluence. It is supposed there are many hatreds and feuds among the various wivee of a harem. Doubtless there are such; but scarcely more than occur among women of society elsewhere. And it naufit be remem- bered that a polygamous life is a, custom to which every Persian woman is habituated from birthand looks forward to as a matter of course. What would, therefore) be a terrible indignity and curse to a Canadian woman, and rouse her worst passions, pro- duces no impression on a Berinan wife. It should also be temeralterecl that Persia is provided with a written code which, among other mattere, prescribee the most careful reeulations for the direction of married people and the protection of the rights of women. These regulations are Carefully obterved by men as well aa %vetoer', both because °women sense shows them the importance of such observance and because the code and custom alike allow suffi- cient lioenee to reduce the butden of con- jugal tite. 11 a man has three wines, he can not given exclusive attention to one to the prejudice a others, It is share and share alike, But if he manifeetly prefers one to the others, there are regUlationa prescribing a fair exchange. Thus, if each of tile three is entitled to an equal portion of his society on anomaly° weeks, they agree to atcept froin the favorite equivalentsthat compensate tor THE LOSS CP THE HUSBAND'S clouratit. Ho in turn hale great libertn exercising the forma of &verde, yet it intuit be done with certain definite forms and phrases, and the divorce is hob final until pronounced on', three separate °deadens, He mit also ' return het dower to the divereedwomaii. On the other hand, divorces work no injury to her, and site may immediately re -marry. un, esi es, a Persian woman has a legal iight to form what is called a tempor- ary ntarriage without a slur en her reputa- tion, It may be for an hour or for ninety years, hut the relation can on/y he dissolved by death or the terminatioa of the period oi title reatrimettiel compact lt differe from the regular forni of marriage, io that the brings no dower, tlae man giving her a present instead, whigh he cannot recall. Many Persien women undoubtedly praotice his form of marriage for periods so brief, but °theirs, on the other hand, torin life con. tracts in this way in order to eyelid the an- noyance of a divorce, INFLUENCE OP THE ANDEROON. The anderoon offers a Persian woman more occupation than one would suppose. In addition to the care of their children, of whom they are very fond and froni whom they reoeive great filial respece, they engage in preparing conserves,. tit embroidering, painting and maim in winch they sometimes acquire rare profieiency ; and occasionally they contpose poetry. - Although their range of knowledge end observation, 18 committed, THEY HAVE GREAT NATURAL INTELLIGENCE and temperaments aottve and apt for affeirs and intrigue. Hence the wives or a Persian are of very great help te him itt the pursuit oi the objecte of his ambition. ,aaInan re- sorted to his anderoon and gought counsel 9f his wivee when he realized that his for- tunes were tottering, Supposing then a Persian deeires the favor of some personege of rank or seeke to induce a neighbor to sled him a gertain piece of land. Does he Beek ,nfitienee at his olub or go into the market and donsult a broker? o; he first confers with his favorite wife, or in a case of great importance, with all of them in council as- sembled iu the anderoon, while he smekes the aromatic) weed of Shinn A course of action having boon decided on the wives call on the wives of the man it is intended to influence or on the wives of men whose wives can bring the necessary iefien enoe to bear, if he be ot tar higher rank, or theygo to the public bath, w.autr. is the Persian way for cluba,ble people and while having their tresses combed and dyed witn henna or embroidering and chattieg, they lead up diplomatically to the desired subject. Influence, presents and bribes are offered, and the treneaotion proceeds like a bargain in the banyan. When . the criminal is hauled up for judgment and hie life is hanging in the balance, it is then his wives rush to the anderoon of the judge or governor and even of the Shah, arid urge them co make intercessiou for him. In no country are the women so mach A PO wER BEHIND THE THRONE, as in Persia, and they so well ampreeiate the fact that they do not complete ir enter once in the year their lord and master 14 eeen walking abroad with therm This is at the No Rau or New Year la the Ides of March. Then the women appear in an entirely new dress and the whole city goes fortn and rambles in the gardens and the parks or sits under the etievars and listens to the professional story -teller arid musieian or watches the uneouth dancing of beers and the grimaces of hideous apes. There is unhappiness and minery itt Persia as elsewhere. Domestic life there has its jealousies, jars and trogedies, bur it also has its pletnaut side. There are true and warm ami enduring affections between husbandand wives there and I ha,ve yet to learn that, so far as t9is life is connected, there is not as much enjoyment got out of existence among the vaileys of Iran as on the slopes of luaty or on the prairies of the West. S. G. W. BENJAMIN. The Terrors if Caste. The evening stars were rising slowly from out the mist tnat lay wide over the Summer Southern land. The twilight gloom was gathering fast over the earth, but gathering taster far over the heart of Riginald Font de liceuf as these words, uttered in a low nausi. cal, but determined tone, fell athwart his ear. The bats circled in the heavy evening air, the chimney swallows dived here a,nct there after their prey. Old sow Sukey, the pet of the household and the children's play- thing, lazily scratched her spine along the stoop and grunted forth her satisfaction —all regardless of the agony pictured on that haugety Southern face as he listened to this more than, to him, sentence of death. "Celeste Silierkins, why won't young marry weuns ? hairet I tuk yer ter every , circus that kim alone' ? hain't I allus gin I yer all the lemonade and peanuts that ysr kin eat? hain t yer allus kept me com- pany ? Why won't youns marry weans ?" Celeste's face winced under this truthful indictment, but presently her Southern 8aVoir fairs enabled her to regain her tumid proud, indifferent look. Her father, Col. Chalmers Cicero Siper- kins, was a Southern aristocrat planter and owned as many as 300 acres of good bottom land, seventeen head o' stock, three inules and kept a hired nigger. Celeste was his only daugliter mid hear, to whom he denied nothing. She had a right to be stuck up and she was the stuckupedest maiden in all the Southren land. Celeste slowly drew off her new sun bon- net, that day purchased at the fashionable emporium of Jones & Cajobs, dealerin hats, cape, hoots a,nd shoes, dry -goods, groceriee and a complete stock of all novelties, as proved by their printed bill -heads, and gazing straight into Reginald's eyes slowly maid : "1 kaint never be gown. The blood of the Siperkinses is the proudest; in all our oouuun:.r: : I kaint never marry youns, Re- ginald, kase—kase youns only wears one gm Caste reared itn horrid barrier end Re- ginald fled outward into the night. An Important Omission. Said the retired city man in the oonntry to his little nephew', who had come in with his coat ripped up the back and his bat missing: "I told pea, what to do if the bull chased you. I told you that Gordon Cu/mangey the Afrioen huoter, Saye that when chased by a &Wage animal all you need to do is to turn your back to it, stoop over, and regard the beast from betweeit your knee. It will then flee in terror from yen." "Did you tell the bull that? "Tell the bull I You greeny, of course not." "I thought not. 'Weil, you see the bull wasn't onto the raellet." A Trifling Miatake. The door of Mr. 'Rambo's office opened and a lady stood irresolutely on the three - hold. ,35 W:311E,ETS, Nathan Kennedy, wholesale oattle trader of Montreal, has assigned. Joe I3oef," of ItIontreal, died, suddenly the °Vier day. Mr. Edward 'Harrington has been re1ease1 from prison. Port Arthur now rejoices in the drab eleighing of the season. Reports from Hayti give deteile of hon. rible eannibalistiewmactices. All the stores a -td places of business in Port Arthur now close at 6 p. rn. Johann Most has been denounced traitor and coward by the real anarchists. The tiver Denube is frozen solidly for a distance of 8 ntilee below Vienna. James Warnock & Op.'s tool works, at Galt, wire burned on Saturday night. Over $225,000 was expeuded in building operationa in Sault Ste. Marie lest year. The weather in Montreal /scold enoughoto revive the spirits of the caruival mamegers. A grand ball was given by the 40th North- umberland Bettelion in Cobourg on Friday nighMotre fighting has taken place in . Sent Africa, in which the basurgents were defeat ed. Lieut. Wiegman has selected 25 edit ' service linutenants, most of them expel enced travalers, to accompany hien Alrihe" TDetroit customs authorities ha -re pro- mulgated an order te Mahe Canadian cars runtutg on through lines nay duty at the border. General Grenfell's force of less than 1,900 fired over 50,000 rounds of small arma am- munition in less theta half an hoar itt the bat- tle of Suakim. The British sloop Emerald has seized $5,.000 worth of smuggled opiura and twelve Clime - men near the mouth of Port Discoveey By, Puget Sound. The Legislative Council of Quebec yester- day, by a majority of one, voted Dr: Lanel- lee out of his seat Hon. Henry Sterne. gave the deciding vote. George R. Parkin, of the Fredericton Collegiate School, has aceepted the invita- tion to go to the Antipodes and lecture on Imperial Federetion. Jobe F. Redmond, stationer, formerly a moulder, ha.s been nominated by the Labor peaty ia Montreal Center to contest the rid- ing for the Local Legislature. Scene Of the members of the Middlesex Law Society object to the establishmenb of the propoted law sohool in Toronto. They would prefer soma other location. Emigration and .Labor. Congressman Ford's Immigration investi- gation Commietee has unearthed some start- ling fans at Pittsburg and Detroit. during the pato two weeks. In one dayti Hesston in the termer city it found than at least 500 pauper and insane immigrants liad reached that parb of the country since thelaw which was designed .so regulate immigration had gone into force—a period of less than three years. Evidence was produced to show that men fresh from foreign workhouses and criminals shipped to America by the author - hies of their native land formed no Moon- siderable portion of the immigration which had reached Pennsylvania by way of New York. In Detroit a similar state of affairs was disclosed, with this difference, that Can- ada was either the source or the medium of this most undesirable immigration. 01 1,370 persons in the Detreib poor -house no less than 740 are foreign born, and, according to the President of the County Board of Poor Com- missioners, a, large number of the latter are either Canadians or have gone to the United States from across the ocean by way of Canada. The same witness abated that"a large number of Canadian and European paupers and lunatics get letters from Cana- dian ministers to church people here and are relieved, but in the end come on the hands of the poor authorities." Other witnesses testi- ad that Canadian labour is largely employed in nearly every business, native labor being crowded out because the aliens are willing to work for low wages. Forty per cent, of the employes of the Detroit City Rahway Com- pany are Canadians. Of 2,100 carpenters in the city shout 600 are aliens, and there are to -day 700 idle men in this 'trade alone, all of them natives. The flood of foreign labour has reduced wages -from fifty to seventy-five eente a day. In one manufactory nearly all the employes are Canadian girls, who were engaged because they accepted lower wages than Detroit girlie And so on. Bribery in the Presidential Election, That bribery and corruption in their grim - gest forms heed high carnival during the late Presidential election of the United States seems established beyond all possi- bility of reasonable doubt. The mote inde. pendent papers have ever since been cry- iag out for an investigation. The "Chris- tian Union," one of the most influential of these, now admits, torrowfully, that there seems little hope thet any such investiga- tion will be held. It sees, or fears it sees, in various circumstances, indications of a reluctance on theipart of leading politicians in both parties to prosecute any vigorous inquiry. The investigation by the grand jury of Indiana is hardly commenced before the Judge is called away, and the jury ad- journed. The United Spates Distriot Attorney undortaltee the prosecution, and then suddenly resigns his post. In Congress there is no prospect of an hivestigation, because the session, it is said, will not be tong enough.. No one of thou: promitent party leaders who have been specially sing- led out and denounced as the high priestin of corruption is clamouring for an inquiry. All keep suspiciously.quiet under the impu- tations. A bill has" indeed, been introduo- ed into Congreesi disfranolaising both bribe - takers and bribe -givers, but it containee no proviaion for the deteotion of bribery, and none for this effective prevention. That against which Di Tocqueville Warned the republic fifty yore ego as its ohief danger --the rule Of a plutooraey—seems to be coming upon it, and the indifference with which the great body of citizens apparently look upon the aggression and usurpation of the gross and debasing power of money, is appalling, It is a, wondet that both the Uhited States and Canada do not adopt the i siniple and effeetive Engligh expedient of limiting the amount of legitimate expenses, and requiring morn becounte of the die- bureements. He Was Desperate. At a reoent book auction in this city two "Thunder and lightning, Nancy I Shut young husbands, married but a few months, the door r exclaimed Mr. RityibOo glancing became considerably warmed up inbidding hastily up from his account books, Were on is cook boa. Both were savagely bent on you reified in a barn? Do you suppose 1 having it, and tbe pned tau run eip to a good want to freeze to death on aecount of your figure. What do you seppose called for such confounded -1 beg your pardon, madam, 1 strife, end what would the wives of the / thought it was my Wife. I was eXpenting young Mtn:, oily if they heard of such cm - her ab the nide° 40116 this time. Certainly, duet out in ? The husband that had oertain13r, nii!doPie. I'll subscribe ler the been the longer married got the book. He Magazine With Pletontire. Put fue down for WaS,reitutintbly) desperate.-401eaveand two ettplea,".,--tChicagti Tribune, Ltader,