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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Times, 1897-12-2, Page 2THE EXETER TIMES A PRECIOUS PEARL GTER L—(Cont1nued4) Mrs. Calverne was a charming hos. tees. She herself conduate;d Audrey to her roome-e. . pretty apartment, hung teeth blue eilk and white lace. The long windings looked over the grounds that led to the Aver, presenting a most exquisite view. In the room there was everything that a glee's beart could desire. Ten, toilet -table was covered with =reels of glass, Dresden china, and. Lycra, and with most elaborate scent bottles. A pretty couch was drawn near the window, There were looks, flowers, pictures, statuettes. Audrey looked round. in wonder. This was magnificence compared with the plain, bare aspect of her room at the rectory. "I hope you will spend. many haPPY hours here," said Mrs. Calverne. Audrey WAS delightel whet the size, .he zuagatieleen.ce, the picturesque teen - Ly of the hone, She was delighted, too, on the day following, when Mrs, Calverne—who was almost royally generous in. her liberality—took ber out shopping. To .A.udrey's simple im- aginatio.a her hundred pounds seemed almost inexhaustible. It bought so muoli—everything that $ young lady eould desire. There was nothing for- gotten—evening dresses, ball dresees, walking costinnes, gloves, fans. Par- isian sheen pretty ornaments—yet in the purse Mrs. Calverne handed to her there was left a handsonie supply el gold, "A hundred pounds goes a, very long way." said Audrey, tnoughtfulIy. She IN as well pleased; and on the raor- row. when Mrs. Calveane's friends and. visitors arrived she felt quite athome and at her ease among them. Miss Hainlyn, gave One keen com- prehensive glance at Audrey when they were introduced and then she smiled at Mrs. Calverne. "We shall hear of something before very long," sbe said. That earue evening Mrs. Calverne seemed highly delighted with a note that she had received. "Sir Roche Villiers is coming." she said. "I hardly hoped to see him." Miss Hainlya looked up with a gleam of pleasure in her dark eyes. "Coming here, is ea? 1 ha.ve been given to u.aderstand that he is most difficult to please. I repeat my pro- phecy—we shall hear of something Le - fore very long." Mrs. Calverne made no answer; she was looking at Audrey with an intent, serious gaze, She shook her head. "I am afraid it will hardly do," she thought to herself; "yet few girls have ever had such a chance." Before three days had elapsed the party of guests were complete and they had before them the prospeet of a beautiful month—July, in all its glory of flower and leaf. CH A.P T.ER 11. The London season lead almost come to an end and the participators in it had nearly all gone their different ways. k or some the season ended in the chime of wedding -bells; to others it bad brought regrete and disappoint- ment. One who had been perhaps more bril- Kant, maze popular, inore sought after and admired than any other, eat alone in his house near Hyde Park. The table Lefore hirn leas strewn with notes of invitation with dainty envelopes veith papers still unread, periodi, als still un- eut; tbe warru sunl,ght fell upon his face, whion was shaded by his hand—a lace that at once attracted; attention. There was someth ng at once bril- liant gentle and. strong about this man, hooking an him, one saw by the handsome tboughtful face that his breast held a life story. It was half revealed. by the firm grave mouth; the lips looked as though they had sealed a secret; it was told in the dark, keen, blue eyes, in the whole expression of the face. He was above the ordin- ary height, with strength and grace combined—a man who could never have even passed. through a room ten - notice -1. Most men envied, all a-onaen ad- mired, Sir Roche Villiers. Ile was rich; he owned. a magnificent estate— Rowan Abbey—he possessed a magni- ficent mansion in London, called Roche House, he had a villa at Cowes, a large estate in Wales. His baronetcy was 30.118 of the oldest in England. Fortune bad lavished some of her richest gifts on him. He had a, fine, clear, keen in- tellect, a brilliant, vivid fancy, the soul of a. poet, the mind, the taste and instinct of an artist; he was a brilliant orator, an accomplished courtier. He was one of the leading menibers of the House of Commons, and was a power in the land although he had not yet reached the age of thirty. He was sought after, flattered, and admired; no one had a word to say against.him. And he won the love of women by the eloquent beauty of his face, as well as by his marvelous talent, tact, grace, . and evit. The room in which he sat was spa- cious and. aandsorae. The eimbeams lingered. on a thousand beautiful things, but those same sunbeams. brought no smile to thp face of the man to whom everything brought only weariness. He put away his thoughts and gave the whole of his attention to the letters lying on the table. One after another he read them, and wrote on each' the same word, "Deelined," .until he came ne Mrs. Calverne'e let- er. "I will go there—I always enjoy a viait to Ricbmond." He wrote an acceptance—it was the same letter which gave such delight to the fashionable widow—and then the old air of weariness and gloom came ever him. wonder," said Sir Rothe Villiers, the possessor ne thirty thoueand per annum, "if theta is anything in this world whiele would make me feel like my old. 'emit again, light of heart, hope- ful, trustful, sanguine? Caul any- thing give me a desire for lire, take frora me the ranking sense of ill -usage restore my faith in my kind, in the love and the truth of women, tne honor of men, I would give my fortune for them and consentto stand penniless it the world. if 1 Mild regale what I have lost. Why should. my heart have lost its youth, ray life its spring? Other men are happyuntil they die —and I was nappy for only a few short moths." The day arrived on whieh he left his home and. wept to Richmond where a warm welcome from the graceful widow awaited him. He never forgot the day. It was rith a,nd warm with the glory of July, but the radiaace of nature brought no smile to his lips. Mrs. Calverne received. hina with the graceful warmth that made her so pop- ular; the said kind pleasant things to hem, she hoped a. few days of change, rest. and bright companionship would. do bleu good. Ile thanked her; but when, after a short conversation she went away to order some luncheon for hem, he walked to the window and stood looking absently over the green lawn with its wealth of rose trees. Calverne's retuan aroused him. Be knew that he had the usual society routine to go through. While he drank the claret cup so perfectly are - pared, and admixed the cool, tempting feint set before bim, he asked who were hes fellow -guests. Mrs. Calverne aas- wered brightly that they formed a pleasant and well -selected party. "I have a belle, a beauty, an ingen- ue, a, wit, and yourself. Could any- thing be better?" "No," he answered with a smile. "'When you have rested. a little, and care to go out, you will find them all n the grounds. Miss Haredyn and Miss Brooke like the bank of the river. I think you will be pleasedwite ler fIeisssh.prooke; she is something quite He raised his eyebrows a little—as though anything in this weary world. could be fresh to him! Ile forgot all about Miss Brooke the next moment. and enjoyed his cigar in peace. he preseatly strolled down to the riv, er bank. Then and there he saw the rector's daughter. He had prayed only a few hours be- fore for forgetfulne;s; now he boped that no time. no thought, no trouble, no sorrow would ever take this new memory from him He bore thee ture with him until he died, The Mil slender girl standing idly by the river bank watehing the stream. ev- ery fixie and curve of her figure clear- ly defined against the blue sky, her two white hands idly cliteped. was as perfect a picture as artist or wiet rould suggest. A. smile, half thoug,ht- ful, half proud, played around her lips. Her fair, sweet loveliness re- vealed ao trace of human passion, there. was nothing to mar the calmness of girlhood. It was quite a aew type of beauty to him. rieh in its brilliant coloring, proud in its half -haughty grace. Peen in s drearny loveliness. He stood melte still, as a man who sees some wonder of the world for the first time, spell -bound by the beauti- ful purity of tbe uneonecious face. What happened as he wetched it he never quite knew: the sun toek a more goldengleam, the river eeemed to flashinto light and song, a deeper green fell on the rippling leases, sweeter fragrance came to the flow- ers. As he looked at Audrey his life seem- ed to grow complete; something awoke in his heart and soul that never died again sonaething that gave him tar,* his youth, his faith, his trust—that took away bis doubts, fears, and dis- may. He watched her intently. while the moments passed 'unheeded. and then he murmured to himself that he had found the spring of the waters of lathe at last. He roused hiraself suddenly as from a sweet sleep. He was obliged to pass by the spot where she stood, for he saw Miss Hamlyn in the distance. As he drew near, the girl raised her fare and their eyes met—only for a mo- ment. but that same moment held the fate of two souls. Ile hurried on and found Miss ETamlyn /luting the capa- bilities of the smooth, green tennis ground. Whea he spoke to her, he had the look and manners of a man who was dreaming. "He speaks to me." she thought, "but he does not even see me." And then he asked the question that trembled on his lips. "'Who is that lady standing on the river bank, Miss Hamlyn?" There was a demure smile in her eyes as she raised them to his. "This is Miss Brooke, AudreyBrooke —or l'ingenue, as Mrs. Calverne calls her." "Audrey Brooke," he repeated slow- ly and. to bis excited fancy it seemed that the surging wavelets re-echoed the name. "Audrey Brooke," he said again; and Miss Etamlyn smiled with the superior- ity of a young lady quite above such weakness as love. "I will introduce you; to her, if you like," she said. Mechanically he followed her, and in a few moments he was bowing, while a fair face was raised to his—raised for oen monaent, and. then the. dark eyes fell. It seemed. to them both that in one glance their souls met. •••••••••••••• CHAPTER III. Sir Roche could not/ es. -plain the be- ginning of his love for Audrey. A new, beautiful life, had suddenly sprang up within him; flowers bloom- ed where an arid desert had been; the funeral pall which had covered earth and sky fell away; he who had thirst- ed so long drank deep of the sweet waters of content.. Daily companion- s ip with her enhanced her radiant • charms, and ane bright day he told Audrey that he loved her, and asked her to be his wife. He mild not recall the wards in which he heel proposer& to her, or the manner in which she had accepted him. He remembered the sunlight of the summer morning, the fragrance, the shade under the tall green trees, the huraming tem bees. He had met slept all night for thinking of het—he had risen early. He saw her at breakfast time, looking more beauti-; ful than ever, in a cool, blue muslin ; dress, with white lace.; He had tried ; hand to be content and to persuade himself that he hate no right to seek ,,to make that pure, young life onewith "Yet, why not?" he asked, himself, " ShaIl a an suffer all nis life and lose all his life, because of one mis- take?" f Be tried to find a thence of speak mg to her when bteakfast was ove and the visitors, In little groups, wer discussing their letters and plans fo the day. Hehad nor opportunity jus then; bat, on going down to the rive bank shortly afterward, he cauglit glimpse of the brown hair and the blu dress under the thada of a Ume tre lie did not wait then to ask himself any questions, to review past scruples, he said to himself that she was the good angel of his life, an& that he would do his best to make her bis own. He went to her at once, his heart on his lips—he loved her with a wonderful love—and he asked her. if she would b his wife. To neither of them. did the xnemor of that time even return very clear ly— it was all a blinding glare, of golde,n, sunlight, a sound of sweet music. When she raised her fair, startled face to his, he knew that he had won her, for he read her love i the dark eyes that drooped so shy ly from his. Yet hes bappiness era so great that he could hardly believ lb, "You. will really be my wife, Aud- rey?" he said. "Say it again, darling —it seems to me so much too good to be true. You always appear to me more than mortal; I can hardly believe that I have won you., You really love me, Audrey?" "Yes, I really love you," she re plied. "And you will be true to me until death?" he continued, She raised ber pure, fair face to "Yes," she answered, "in the high- est sense of the words, "I will be true to you until death." "I feel as tbough I had plighted my troth to an angel," be said. "My darling, I should never be very ear - prised to see you, suddenly take wings and fly away." She laughed a little, sweet laugb of perfect content. "I feel more like a happy young girl than an angel," she said, ask'Beant are you happy, darling?" he an's'Yweeer,,",e1naasnathijeallevayK, frank, half shy And then they talked of the future that lay so bright before them. He told her of his splendid old borne, Rowan Abbey, the large estate near King's Wynne, of his numerous ten- ants and dependents, "I have neglected my borne," he said; "It is three years and more since the great gates of the abbey were opened. They tell me that inoss leas grown in the courts and weeds in the gardens." "But, why," she asked, "have you neglected it?" mooHidsy,handsome face grew dark and "Do not ask me," he said. "My past has not been a happy one. will tell you this, darling—I have neglect- ed my duties, I have not !leen near ray home; I have negleeted my tenants; any- thing." taken no interest in any - "Bat why," she persisted, "tell me why? He was silent for a few minutes, during whith he asked himselt should he tell her, or should he not? If he told her, the chances were that he should lose her; and he clung to her not only lsecause he loved her with a passionate love, but because he, saw in her the means of amendment, saw how she could help him to lead such a life as he had dreamed of years before, and had longed for always. He could not risk all by telling her; besides, what could it matter? He would be a true, faithful, loving husband to her —he would make her very happy; for the rest, his story related only to an old-fasbioned prejudice, at which the wise children of this generation laugh- ed. "Why was all this?" she asked gently. "Why did you neglent every- thing, and care for nothing, Sir Roche'?" Darling, you must not call me 'Sir Roche,' I have never known the Leauty of my narne until now. Say Roche that I may hear all the music of it." She half -whispered the name, and then he answered her. He took noth her hands in his and. kissed them; but be did not look into her face as he said: She shivered e little and drew her Mane lace sbawl around her shoul- ders. "Have you told her?" she asked. "No," he replied, angrily "why need I tell her? She' need never know. I dare not risk losiaa her, for if I lost her it would drive me ✓ mad. mr"sWielladyvoerunsitealltteDrnaBrpomouskeer asked, t "Ni; why should I? Why need I? ✓ It matters to no ciee. Let me forget it a —that terrible ghost of a hated past; e let me be good and ha.ppy with this e. sPterruotain0171,— sent to me, I believe, by eaven to save me from utter de - "Do you think good ever, comes from concealment?" asked Mrs. Calverne, presently. "No, not as a rule—in' this ease, yes. Old-fashioned prejudices would e be arrayed against new and more advanced ideas. I da not see the rneefeedr,rinthgtodays ewiclyosgom,tnte bliay&eisaNkirhinciilsityo ihoauprpni ne ;7—wish me God -speed in my "I do," she said. But long after he had, left her the mistress of River View set looking thoughtfully at the green trees. I hope I have (low:, right," she 5 said. "A.fter all, it is a brilliant e match for her; and weat, can a few old-fashioned prejudices matter?" To be Continued. "1 had a friend, one whom I loved and trusted. This friend deceived and betrayed me. The deceit; was so cruel, it blighted my life, and r lost all interest in it until I saw you." Her hand stole gently to his shoun der, her dark eyes dim with unshed tears, were raised lovingly to his. "I will never deceive nor betray you," she said. "You shall have one love true and faithful to your life's and ; I will make up to you for all you. have suffered. But, Roche, you must have loved your friend very dearly to have suffered so mucb?" "r did," he replied, hoarsely. "But we will not talk any, more about it. I shall forget it in your love. My life will grow bright again—all the inter- est will come back. We will live at Rowan Abbey, and we will do all that I ought to have done, but have so sadly negieeted; we will build schools for the children, almshouses for the old and infirtn. We will do all the good we can, Audrey." She listeaed to him in a trance of delight. Considering his vast wealth, his ancient title, his large estates, he did not look like a lover assured of victory . when he asked that same evening to speak to Mrs. Calverne. "I think it but right," he said, "as Miss Brooke is staying ender your roof, to tell you that r have asked her to be my wife, a,n& th,at I have de- cided on „going to see Dr. Brooke next Week." She looked at him half gravely, half sadly; "Yme do not congratulate Me," lie cried, "I am remise," she w 1 be your pardon, I do congratulate you. I think more highly of Autl. rey Brooke than of any girl I know" "You are recalling theee old -f 4 ioned prejudices," he said rmpat1entj1 "surely you are more enlightened th to deem them worth 4 momentl„ thought?" THOMAS ATKIN'S PLUMAGE, A Million a Tear Makes Ulm 'Beautiful to Zook Coon, Mr. Tames Atkins, taking all grades of him, even if not actually the best dressed, iscertainly the most brilliant- ly garbed soldier in the world, says the London Mali, But the cost of this gorgeousness is not so great as on,e might reasonably expeot. According to recent ieluras, clothing the whole ar- my for the year 1896-7 left John Bull poorer by no greater a sum than Ma, 000,000. As is well known, India pays for the clothing of the regiments quar- tered there, this being arranged by a i curious system of exchange. Regiments I are continually going out from Eng- land, taking clothes with them, for which the Indian Government credits us with £135,000 annually—a very tidy ' little stela, 1Vhen, on the other hand, the regiment returns, we must credit our dependency with the value of what Tommy Atkins wears. As the clatbes are usually pretty well worn, we put it at £5,000—an excellent bargain. Old. and worn out clothing is vended. to the second -band dealer, who, it may be remarked, usually grows rich in a short space of time, for a matter of £28,000; and. " cutting'. " fetch as much as 46,000. Altogether the 'War Office gets back I over £300,000, which reduces the gross expenditure very materially. ' It costs £14 annually to clothe and decorate the quasi -private, known as the warrant officer, of the Foot Guards. But then he is very magnificent The Ordinary beautiful infantryman, who is the cynosure of all the nursemaids in the park, is fitted out from top to toe, complete, for £3 1 I At the Army Clothing Department in Pimlico hundreds of thousands of !yards of flannel, linen, calico, velvet, 1 millions of buttons, tons of cotton- evool, Tommy must be padded out a I bit, and billions of yards of sewing cot- ton are all at superior quality, and cost' the nation £485,000. The wages for making these up into tunics, trousersi and shirts is a matter of .21,200 a ' week, or £64,000 a, year.. They do not all sew and stitch at Pimlico. For instance, there is that snug little post, the Inspectorship of Clothing, which is worth n1,200 a year, while his assistant receives £750. Tom - ray Atkins might be, it should be add- ed, clothed—merely clothed—for much less money, but to inake him beautiful costs £1,000,000 a year. A GROWING CITY. Vladisvostock Will Soon be Famous as a Railroad Terminus. Open your atlas at the' map of Asia and look for tbe city with the long name of Vladisvostoek, on the eastern coast, north of Japan. Ar few years ago this was only a little barren strag- gling town of a few thousand inhab- itants, most of whom were Chinese c fishermen, who lived in the deepest poverty. Now it is a rapidly growing city of =tore than twenty thousand in- habitants, and it will soon become one of the great ports and naval stations d of the world. Last week the corner- stone of the new Russian public works a was laid with great ceremony. The importance of Vladisvostock lies 8,, in the fact that it is the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railroad which runs a from Russia, a distance of over five thousand miles across the barren iee stretches of Siberia. When completed e it will have cost over one hundred and e - seventy -five million dollars, making 'e it one of the greatest business enter - GIANT COLONIZATION PLAN. A foreign Syndicate Mama nomeeee Euro- peans to Mexico. A syndicate composed of some of the wealthiest men in the old' world has been organized to oolonize Mexico, eays a despatch from the City of Meanie,. Vast concessions have been given to the syndicate, whith also assumes a lain a block of the pablie debt, as ex- plained in the Government organ, El Menthe, which says that the contraet has beea signed between Limantour, Secretary of Finance, and an English • It is stated that this' syndicate un- dertakes to place in various portions of Mexico, within the next twenty- five years a round, million' of Euro- pean colonists. The details given are incomplete and rather mystifying, bat they are believed, as the article ap- pears in the Government organ. The company 'which has the transaction in hand was organized in England.' One of the Rothschilds is active President. It guarantees to take over, the public debt—whith debt El. Mundo does not state, but presumably some of the later issues, amounting to about one hun- dred and ten million dollars—and as a guarantee of good faith will deposit one million dollars with the London Bank of the City ofeMexico. The Gov- ennaent, on its part, agrees to turn over 33 1-2 per cent. of all receipts to the foreign syndicate. It also agrees to pay one hundred dollars for each family- located as colonists, and to withdraw all the publics lands from the market, giving the new' syndicate; the exclusive use of the Government lands for colonization, The Governemnt also agrees to de- fray thirty-five per cent. ot the cost of any public buildings erected; in any of the colonies, the inane, of the same having previously been approved by the Government. Mr. Tesnos, who repre- sents the syndicate in the Mexican capital, started on last Monday for London with full details of the con- tract to be submitted to his princi- pals, .A. syndicate of English capitalists, headed by Wililam L Malool veteran Ceylon coffee planter, hus been organized to engage in coffeei culture on a most extensive, scale. in Mexico. It iutends to purebase one hundred thousand acres of land in the best coffee district in Mexico, and plant all a it to coffee trees. Mr. Bialcolm- son and other members of' the syndi- cate have arrived in the City of Mex- ico from London to carry out the plans of the big investment. 'DROPPED FROM MARS MAYBE. Strange Message 'From Above mat Exhibits Some Ihitratudatable Characters. Scientists in Binghampton, NX., are puzzling over an aerial visitor that cropped in this vicinity early the other morning. Prof. Jeremiah McDonald, who resides on Park avenue, was re- turning home at an early hour in the morning, when there was a blinding flash of light and an object buried. it- self in the ground a short distanee from his premises. Later it was dug up and found to be a mass of some foreign substance that had been fus- ed together by an intense heat. It was i o an ween cooled off in water was broken open. Inside was found vi hat might have been a piece of metal, on which were a number of curious marks that some think to be charac- ters. 1Vhen opened the stone emitted a strong sulphurous smell. The object was submitted to Prof. Wliliney of tbe high school, who declar- ed it an aerolite, but different from anything he had ever seen. The metal had been fused to a whitish substance, and is of uaknown quality to the sci- entific xnen who have examined it. Several have advanced the opinion that this is a message from another planet, probably Mars. The marks bear some resemblance to Egyptian writing in the minds of some Prof. McDonald s among those who believe the inyster- ious ball was meant as a means of com- munication from another world. ROYALTY INCOG ON THE; WHEEL. Bicycles are about as popular now ne Germany as anywhere, even in the nost exclusive circles. It counts many votaries in the imperial family and ()urn That was seen recently while a number of Princes and Princesses vere visiting at Chateau Friedrichshof vhen twelve wheels stood in the sta- les. Preece Henry, the Emperor's rother, is an enthusiastic bieyelist, nd while visiting his mother the oth- er day in Cronberg, he rode, incognito, o to speak, to Frankfort on his wheel rid presented himself in the shop of dealer and repairer to wait until a much-needed change had been made in is tire. The dealer, who did not know ixa at first, chatted on about wheels nd wheeling, and the Prince chimed in hewing a thorough understanding of very part of the wheel. prises of modern times. This railroad will give Russia a great port on the Pacific ocean and enable her to develop the rich coal and iron mines of her vast territory, all of which will add to the importance of the new city. Vla,disvo- stock is also well located for a fortress and it is expected that Russia, will arm it and make it a base of supplies for her ships. Two months every` year its harbor is frozen over, but the Russian government keeps a channel plowed through the ice with a great ice crush- er. SHOULD SHE EXPECT THEM, You never bring me lovely flowers a.pd cappieep as you used to when we wee eileedded,, pouted Mrs. MoBride. �o, dear, replied her husband, I did neit buy fifteen -dollar bonnets and fife ty-dollter dresses for you Ale% though, • ; I ' ' I Iee'"Iee ' A SLIGHT hilleTAKE. VNisterrier—Oh, yes, I've board of brotheryoip oaaiaarrisil! Gulch City, He s a re gctr brother is a alitrinelk.- 1, 1 loIsve it was ilifileib tete no ask RULES OF BOARDING SCHOOLS. ' The Indian girls of the Crow agency boarding school in Montana gave a soiree dansante the other evenitig, and the following girls were present: Mara Spotted -Horse. Edith Long -Ear, Kit- tle 1VIedicine-Tail, Lena Old -Bear, Clara Bull -Nose, Blanche Little -Star, Nellie Sthell-on.the-Neek, Mary Old -Jack -Rab- bit, 13ertha Full Mouth, Katie Dreamer, Fanny Plenty -Butterflies, Bessie firooker-Arm, Martha Long -Neck, Isa- bel Lunch, Flay Hairy -Wolf, Alice Shoots -as -she -Goes, Stella, Wolf-elouse, Lucy Hawks, Beatrice Beads -on -the -An- kle, Susie Bear -Lays -Down, Louisa, ThreadVolves, Anna Medicine -Pipe, Maggie Broken -Ankle, Ruth Bearein- the-Middap, Helen Comes -out -of -Fog, Sarah Mee -Irons, Ida Wrinkle -Pace, Jessie Flat -Head -Woman, Lottie Grand- mother's -Knife, Esther.Knows-Her-Gun Minnie Nods -at -Bear and Daisy Young, Heifer. The tradesman who resorts to imi- tation and substitutiOn deseryes no conraderation. (Meow him nonh. Get wileiet You. ask for when von go to buy. MONO THE WOE WON. WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE GLOBE. Om and Nev World Events of Interest Chrotio lcld Briefly—Interesting Happenings di Recent Date. It is estimated teat the Manchester Ship Canal has saved the cotton trade 4150,000 a year. It is estimated that as many as 60,- 000 farmers and others in France make their living by the manufacture of Roquefort Cheese. Botanists have found no fewer than 120 different kinds of flowers on Spitz- bergen, most of them being unknown on the European continent. Russia is said to QW11 30,000,000 horses, or nearly one-half of the whole nuraber in existence. Most of them belong to the peasants of that vast em- pire., Abyssinian social code provides for a fair chance to youngmarried couplets by forbidding the bride's motber to visit her daughter till a year after the marriage. One large agency in London employs women for bueliffs, putting them in °barge where the victim of distraint ; is a woman or an elderly persou who ;18 not likely to raane trouble for the custodiare What is called malaria, after raging for four years in Central Asia, where it was attended by great mortality, has reached the Caucasus, and is spreading, ; The military hospitals report 400 cases a day each. Geerge F. Watts has presented to St. Paul's Cathedral, London, his allegori- cal paixiting entitled "Time, Death and Judgment." The dean and thapter have selected a spot to hang it, in the central nave near the north-west quar- ter arch of the dome, An appeal has appeared in a Darm- stadt paper asking all Hessian women to contribute toward a monument to be erected to the late Grand Duchess of Hesse, the Princess Alice, who, with the English people, was the favorite daughter of the Queen. A Jaen, ce Groat's to Land's End re- cord for motor carriages has been estab- lished in England, the first carriage to make the journey having covered the distance in ninety-theee hours. The time can easily be beaten when a re- cord for speed is sought. At Ludlow, in Germany, 129 fathers have been fined one mark apiece for allowing their children under ten years of age to dance at the harvest festival of a village near by. The village pastor objected to the dancing and reported the case to the police. It was discovered however, that his ohildren had danced, too, and he was fined with the rest. A celebration was recently held in Bontoise, France, for the coachman, Georges, who gained undying renown inParis byhis bravery in easing lives at the bazaar disaster in the Rue Gou- jetn. There WaS a banquet and a pub- lic meeting, with speeches, from winch Georges escaped at the earliest oppor- tunity, and a presentation of a gold medl to 11n. Verdi, who objects to hand organs, has an effective though expensive way of suppressing them at Moncalieri, where he spends his summers. He hires all the organs in the distriet for the season and stores them in his house, A reporter of Le Figaro counted ninety-five instruments and the cone - poser told him that it cost him 4S00 a season to suppress them Gabriele d'Annunzio cannot become a member of the Italian Parliament, as his political opponents have shown that his rTeed ineludes a sentence to six months imprisennmeoiettolnoiry ery, which makes him ihle, but deprives h m ofthe right to vote, In commenting on this Le Fig- aro asserts that such a law in France would be equivalent to suppressing uni- versal suffrage. just before he died Lord Leighton referred with some bitterness to the fact that one of his earliest pictures, "Orpheus," had been generallyridi- culed. When asked where the picture was, he said he was sorry that he did not know, as it would now be worth a fortune to him. After his death the canvas was found. in the coal cellar, where it met been thrown among a lot of rubbish. While England is fighting on the Afghan frontier Russia is building military roads in the Pamir region' 3lose to the boundary of India. One has just been corapleted over the Ak Baital Pass, at a height of over 15,000 feet. It can be used by carts, and was begun in. July. Another has been made near the Kerne Tata boundary, and it was intended to complete another before the 4. cold weather set in at the Bordoba boundary in the Allal An overhead trolley system for the conveyance ot power to motor car- o riages on ordinary roads has been in u successful operation fax six months 1 past at Greenwich, England. The sys- s tem is the double wire one, as the cir- cuit must be completed entirely by the f wires. The motor le placed in the front of the carriages, and connection is made by a flexible wire winding on a drum. Carriages can pass each other by an e' ingenious arran eraent of rollers at - tithed at intervals to eithez side of the connuotingwire, the trolley being guid- ed to the right or left as may be neces- sary. , Orthodox Greeks and Anglicans have -fraternized in an unusual manner in RECKLESS LAKE NAVIGATION. skippers and Sailers Who Soave olio roma of Our inland Sias in Deftest Sulks. "The loss of the steamer Idaho WV Lake Erie," said a former forwarder of grain and freight cargoes on the lakeo "is but another exatuple of the reck- lessness that c.haracterizes lake skip-, pers aid sailors, and of thee risks, they will tale to make all that is possiele -,..e out of a season's transportation, Tiler will start frora port with veseels that are .hardly seaworthy even in fair wea- ther in the face of the most threaten- in'g weather, and weather is aeraost con- stantly threatening on Lake Erie at this time of year. The textual loss of life and property, although it is much less now than formerly,nbecause there are fewer unseaworthy hulks afloat, is proportionately larger than it is en the Atlantic Ocean t The reports that fol- low every severe storm on the lakes are burdened with disaster. "No ocean saiior that ever lived would dare to take the risk that the average lake shipper will, anl thieCriet only without a word of protest, but with avidity. It looks sometimes as if lake sailors rather courted 'aisle and danger. It is a fact, too, that there are more unseaworthy craft braving the treacherous waters of the lakee. during the MOST DANGEROUS SEASON of the year—Ootober and November— tban at any other time. There is reas- on for this though, fax grain shipments are livelier as the season, draws to a close. Cargoes are conseauently imam plentiful and freights higher. Every vessel that will float cau command a cargo. I have eeeu sehooners that were searcely fit to be towed on s. canal leaVe port in November, loaded alraost to the guards with freight, and yet the skin - pars would have to refuse many applica- tions from sailors anxious to sail on the shaky hulks. There is not a wort. reckless class of men on the face of the earth than the fresh -water ;sailors, although they have the terrible fact constantly before them that hundreds of their fellows are last annually on the lakes, nine -tenths a them going down with the rotten oraft they begged the privilege of sailing on. Tbis faeb, is made the more startling because it is well known that the dangers of lake navigation—especially . navigation on Lake Erie—are so great. that even the stanchest vessels are frequently un- able to weather them, I would rathe cross the Atlantic Ocean eanises t at this season than make one trip f ro , the St. Lawrence River to Chicago. "Storms sweep oyer the lakes with- out any warning. The Novetaber gales founi LaTkkskippers e Erie. are indescribably fright- "landraarks for guidesP and arge 5 on in navigation. The bliaeling rain or sleet that merry always accompanies these storms ob- literates tbese marks sometimes for days, and as the sea room is limited, vesseis caught in these gales are incon- stant danger of going to pieces, either on the rocky shores or on SOMA of the is.anels that stud so thickly these in- land seas, or being suddenly swamp- ed ° Idabo was. Lake Ontario a. shores are especially menacing to lake craft during storms, but fortunately' this lake is not so liable to be swept by storms as some of the others. If o vessceelrhaetnavesoto in a storm it is al- . niost Y or if th it runs down e lake18 castotwatearr THE MANISLANDS , that abound there. Man; skippers an- nually wreck their ;craft in the al- ways risky effort to make Oswego harb- or in a storm. The entrance to this harbor is very narrow, and. the vessel that is steered for it and does not make it is almost certain to go to pieces on the rocks under Fort Ontario. "The sailing season is comparatively short on the lakes, for it is usually late in the spring before the ice embargo, is. removed and early in the winter when it is again placed on navigation. Tbe skipper's desire to take advantage of every hour of his time and; he takes no precaution that will cause him an extra moment's Idelay in port. Of course all vessels that sail on the lakes are subject to the control of Govern- ment inspectors and none can sail with- out a permit. But the pay of these of ficials is small. They are human, and lake skippers are the most willing peo- ple on land. or sea, At any rate, there is a. host of unseaworthy hulks engaged in the commerce of the lakes. There are not so many of them though, as dared the. dangers of th,e trip before Govern- ment inspection began. "Reckless skippers would, find their occupation gone if there were no reck- less sailors eager to share their risks, and reckless lake sailors are thp rule - Tether than the exception. This is all he more singular because, ordinarily, hese sailors are the quietest and most modest of men. A curious thing about hem is that many of them are farmers r, rather farm owners. The individ- al land holding in the vicinity of the ake ports of some of these dayeedevil ailors is considerable. The moment asigation closes they return to their arms, remain there until It reopens in the spring, and then hasten back to, he lakes to tempt death on any old raft where tthe can get e best ages, leaving their wives and childxen to look after the farms." Melbourne, Australia. Owing to the absence of a resident priest, baplisms and marriages among Russians and Greeks have been celebrated according totheir rites by clergymen of the Church of England in the parish churches. qn some occasions they have also administered the communion. The newly., appointed archirnandrite has pot only eatified the ceremonies per- formed in the past, but has refused to administer hay. communion until he receives peril:demon to do so from the Anglican bishop of the diocese. . A STrUY LAMP. Guest—W,ha,t sort of a. lamp is that? Host -4 study lamp, Guest -e -Ah 1 Celled that because it -is for the study, I presume? itiost—No. Caeled that because it takes a great deal of study to run it. .-4.•-• A FAITHFUL EXPONENT. Clara is a hard girl to please. She never gets a new dregs withcat sitting down and virtually making it over. Yes; Clara is a faithitel exponent of - that good old saying, 'As ye sew, so shall ye rip. --- ACCORDING TO HIS THEORY. Why is Lighter always uzging peoPle to live in accordance with the (olden ' Rule? He poses as an authority on the fi- nancial question, you know. WHERE IT FAILED. Is anything wrong with your egg, Mr. Gruff? asked the landlady; of„, the; hoarding house. „ No, madam, nothing at ail, was the reply; but isn't, It iust a little small for Ile eget 4