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The Brussels Post, 1909-10-7, Page 31."-++.+4-1++++++++++++++++ Mowi nng thiol;: elle open the other h4 -the end of his 'Varsity career ' 'and the necessity of tur'nang to ao- t ,}� 4f,•F(��� count any little, talent he possess - +E !t ed. Then a fruitiest)fruitiest)search for r ht o k. He bad been, destined for the Bar -he feend"lie bad to simply take anything that offered, and op- +enings were few; then., whorl be lied secured a wretched, under- paid :postin a City office, illness overtook him, and he an out of •heepibal to find his place filled up, land little hope of getting anything ielse to do, "I know I could do something - gad work, too -if only I had ;something to keep mo going in the meantime," he finished, with en- er'gy. "What sort of work?, Thesiger asked. A flame burned for a minute in the younger man's eyes, "Literary work," the said, "I -I write a little. I'd write more if 1 'Mai time, But one might as well wish for the moon." • Thesiger sat up; hisface grew aucLdenly. thoughtful. For a min- ute or two he examined' the stran- ger's face. Perhaps in those glow- ing depths he saw fairy castles dreams of fame and fortune -if only the tide would turn and give him a chance, "So you write." said Thesiger, slowly. "1 don't know that 1 couldn't do something for you, then. How woukl a secretaryship do you for a week or two, at any rate? We'll call it that. You Understand. a typewriter, and so on?" "Yes. It's awfully good of you, when you don't even know who hI am or anything about me. My name's Randal -Geoffrey Randal and there's nothing I wouldn't do in honest work to brake a living." "All right. I'll give you a shake- down, here for the present, and we'll talk things over. You may be able to help me. My • name's Thesiger, I'm a fellow -scribe, as perhaps you know," "Thesiger! Why, the man who wrote 'Fame.'" "Yes. You rend it, then?" "Read it? Rather. But I don't (understand how I can ever help You.! Why, you've made your name. You've fortune and fame in your hands; I've nothing." "We'll talk about that another time," Thesiger said, cheerfully. "Now, I'm sure you'll be glad to get to bed. My man will ,see you have everything you want. Good .night." * * * * * That was only the beginning of strange events. After the first week of his new work Geoffrey Ran- dal began to feel a different man;" also his literary gifts began to stir 'within him. Ile felt he must write; ;some great power urged him on, ,and he knew that what he wrote evas good. It was while this pow- er was goading him on that Thesi- aer noted the change in his secre- tary--sew ecre-Maly saw that he had begun to ;write again: and after some days stoke to him of the matter. "Let me see what you've written," Le said, "and if it's any good I'll tell yott.". He was immersed fora long time an the closely written pages which Randal had turned out in the early bolas of the morning, and :as The- siger read he marvelled - and re- shot up to the fourth floor and there ! haired. Fate had played into his shot them on a landing luxe 'bands this time; fate had brought rzriousiy carpeted. Thesiger fitted I him the ghost the wanted -the ghost his latch -key into a door, entered a pleasant, warm atmosphere, and motioned the stranger into a room to the right. Electric light glowed lin an instant through pretty red shades -a tray with drinks and a plate of ,sandwiches stood on a side - table, a fire burned redly in the grate, and thick curtains were drawn across the two windows, shutting out all sight of the cold night. Thesiger pulled a big chair roar the fire, "Take off your coat and warm O'ourself," he raid. "I suppose a drink would not come amiss, eh?" The man gave a sort of stifled Rasp. "I haven't had a drink -or any- thing to eat either tor the matter of that -since yesterday -or per- haps it was the day before. I -I forget.,, Thesiger poured out a drink, put 't with the plate of sandwiches near the stranger, and then moved away. When he turned round the stran- ger was sitting back in his chair-. the sandwiches were .nearly gone -a new colas shone in hie thin face, "Smoke?" said Thesiger. w -+f'+++++++++ i-++-5)++++++ It was a, bitter spring night, wit a fi chill rain and an easterly w'nd blab swept viciously round Oro' t earners, making the few pedestri- ens who wore aboub wish them- eelvos safely within doors, .Chrough the wet darkness Harding Thesi- ger hurried along, his coat collar turned up, his hands well occupied. '-one in holding up a streaming umbrella, the other stuffe 1 into his pocket, His thoughts kept hire busy enough to disregard all the horrors of the wet, cold n'ght. They were not pleasant theuglits, but he could not escape from them. Nearly a year ago Harding Thesi- ;ger- had woke up to find himself famous. The .public fancy: so eas ity proved to applause or disapprov- al -had seized upon his book and twalaimed it the work of genius. But his talent, which had made such a flash in the pan,. had stead- fastly refused to do anything more (for him; ideas would not come, his pen lagged -finally came to a standstill, and the man knew that whab he tried to write now was only drivel. His reputation tremb- led in the balance -and he could do nothing to save it. He had so little else to depend upon, and now, of all times, he was anxious that there should be no falling back -that fortune should still hold out the hand of friend- ship to hint for Rachel Verney was yet be be, won. And he had set him- self to win her -by fair means or foul. This fame of his -the writ- ing of that book -had given him a lift up in her estimation; he knew that. His lips tightened at lyre thought, forhe had built Heaven )alone knows what dream castles; of a greater and a. more lasting dame, which he could lay et her feet. And his muse was silent. He turned into the archway be- neath which stood the white doors ef the block of fiats in which he had establishel himself with a good deal of oomfort, and felt relief that he was out of the oold wind and rain. As he lowered his umbrella same- ene moved in the doorway, anu Thesiger made out dimly the figure et a man standing there, evidently sheltering from the storm. "Would you give me shelter for half an hour?" he asked abruptly. Thesiger turned and looked at him. In the light which poured out from the hall of the flats he saw that the speaker was a young man, with all the appearance of a gen- tleman, despite his worm clothing and hungry air. "Why should I?" he replied to the man's question, ' "I don't know, but I thought you might. If you don't, there's nothing Lor it but the 'streets - and then the river, I suppose! Not a pleasant prospect on a night like this, is ib?" Thesiger felt Ms interest awak- ened. "No," he said ; "it doesn't sound pleasant. Come in, will you?" The stranger fol]owed him with- out a word into the lift, which he meant to keep if he could bribe him into staying, that is to say. He put down the pile of menu- :script and looked at Randal, who was waiting •eagerly ler his verdict. "It's good," he said ; "very good," There he paused, conscious that the story he had just read - the mere beginningtf it -held more grip, more sustained interest, more ,power than anything 1te had ever written himself ; it held, too, that indefinable atmosphere that serves to take hold of the roador's atten- ,tion and to keep it -and he rea- lized that in Geoffrey Randal, poor, 'unknown, the sport of cir'cunrstaue- es, there was ,genies waiting for Vecognition. "You think it's worth going on 'with -worth publishing?'said Randal, eagerly. "Yes -if you had made a name for yourself," said Thesiger, "A name) Bust I haven't! Ian unknown, and--" "Just so. But -I could be its sponsor." ," i1'hlat do you mean? "I mean this. Finish this story -let me publish it under my name -write others of the saine quality -and you shall have a settled in- come. That is my safer:""I've almost forgotten what it's Randal stared at hint in b•owil- like-thanks most awfully. You're dorhrhent--Chan his face darkened. fi'er'y good to me. 1—" "trailer your •cannel" he 0cno- "Never mind that ; you needn't. ed; "but why? • You -you surely te in a hurry to be off. Tell the don't want a literary ghost. what brought you to this pass." "That's beside the point:; I'vo Thesiger dropped into a chair made my offer -take it or leave it. near the fire, lit a match and his ;But, if you leave iL-1've, done with own cigar, and watched the stain- you," ger as he puffed lexerieusly nt his Mandeb) was silent. He saw again Nor a minute in esileneo. Adven- tures, they say, are to the adven- turous, and perhaps in 1his.strange encounter might lie the .gems of some idea which would prow or use to the literary 011150. It was scrub prnvit 010.1 to+v 1 • and of I with this oaject, iude�ed, that The- ,chid, who hurl gen out of This life; siger allowed himself to he promp• ,but a hnun lie always hoped to fired ted to sponteneous chanty, It was a eohnmon enough, story 'that the etr'anger told. Ifnforl.rt- natehspeoulatiens on the part; of the parents --illness end misfortunes "X aaeept your offer," he Seidl evert, Even cow X can hardly he- • hoaa'sely, And `Thesiger smiled, lieve that Geoffrey ie alive,' ,r* * e * Thesiger looked ab firer dully. Rachel Verney walked slowly They were sitting on' a ooupleof the through the park. It was gid cable green chairs in the shasl+e of June, arts oho seaaen was at its the trees; all the world was pass - height; the trees were getting a ling and repassing before thein, but they diel nob see. "Geoffrey?" !re eohoed, "Yes -Geoffrey Randal -he. told 1ne he eats as your secretary," She chose a quiet•path away from Thesiger said nothing. Thie blow the 'crowd of faelhion and the oar- had nearly deprived him of lite son - triages bowling from the Marble Res, Rachel -and Geoffrey Randal. Arch to Hyde Paris Corner, for she tltaobel-and the Ghost, 'Ithe ghost ,Thad many things to think about- through whom he had lept to such •11 decision to make which would af- astonishing heights of fame - to foot her entire future, ,whonh' he owed all the success and , It was no use to try and put off ,wealth for Vlach he had longed•- I .the evil hour any longer: Thesi only to lay thorn ab Rachel's feet, ger lead succeeded beyond even his !and now -thea were worthless to sawn expectations_ certainly far her -and to hem, What an irony P eyond those of his friends - .and of. 'fate 1 i•l,ere was no longer any reason' Ho had schemed and lied and why her answer should be doles, -I tricked ,the peali•c-for this! He (id. But -could she marry hire? had reaped where - another man HO had -worked-for her. So he .*owed, and gathered wlhere ho said. He had laid his laurels at strewed, And now -he had lost his her feet. He had done all she had )sward, The realization of his loss Basked, and more, and now the /stunned hirn, (Imola his very sight, cnran showed her tnat hq eoufidently God ib was like one broken and ,expected his reward, I ruined that presently Harding Memory took her back to an idyll ;.Thesiger, universally counted as. !cf the past, Better, of course, to 1 one of the most successful and to - forget it all, but she 'could not. 1'be-envied men of the day, matte his !Geoffrey's fees rose ,persistently way of the park, knowing nothing !before her, and, though he had /but a fierce desire to be alone -to 'vanished out of liter life, she knew ,get away from the roar of human - sae could never banish his image ity and the company of his fellows. from her heart. - ('sassing the whirlpool of traffic As if her thoughts had oonjured !which reared down Oxford Street, up his ghost, she saw, coning down be found himself hemmed between ,the sunlit path along which she ewiftly-moving vehicles -he paused was wajlking, Geoffrey Randal him- a moment, groping like a blind ,self. /man, made a step or two forward; The ground reeled and rooked be- chore was a confused sound Ofeteat+h her fee:. She felt the blood 'shouting -a roar of thunder in his !rush in one sickening throb to her ,oars, as a motor -omnibus emerged face, and the was conscious that from the pack and bore down upon the was holding her hands as if he ,bim, and he foil -to rise no more. raver meant to let them go again. * * * * * And he was no ghost, but. warm "I'll drop the thing. I -I man 'flesh and blood. go on," "Rachel!" he was saying, in in- Geoffrey Randal threw down his credulous tones, It is yon I Yet I Ten, got up, and. paced -restlessly can't believe it. Why, I thought up •and blown the room. The June I thought you were in India." ,teiliglht was dying, and lights were "No; I did not go. And-why',leaking out in the street. The did you vanish, Geoffrey? I wrote, room was comfortable and spaci- and got no answer. I thought you pus --one of the suite whiehaT.hesi- must be dead." ger had takrn for his secretary in "1 got no lettere from you, Ra- a street near his own quarters; chel. They must have gone astray. .bookcas.es lined the walls -there ,But what matter now? We've ,were a big roil -top desk, a type - found each other again. Are you writer on another table, and solid living in town?" handsome furnishings. They -with "Yes, with my aunt, Mrs. Ma- the salary paid to Randal with son. And you, .Geoffrey? What rbusihhess-like regularity - repre- ,are you doing?" e,ented the bribe which had bought "I've got a post as -secretary," This services, his brain, this genius. he said, his ,happy ,eyes clouding a /And now he felt ho must shake off little. t•bese shackles -he must stand "As secretary? Whose, Geoff alone, make a way for himself --and rey?" for Rachel. That was the crux of "Harding Thesi;er's-the au- the whole matter. thor, you know." The telephone rang shrilly from Rachel startecl. a corner of the room. Geoffrey "Harding Thesiger- 117ry, I Tastily turned and took up the re - know Thin well! And he never c•etver'• even mentioned your name to me, "Yes; who's that? Johnson? If he had—" -Bight. Mr. Thosiger badly injured? Geoffrey was silent. He knew Goodo havens! All right. Yes, well why Harding Thesiger newer 1 'come at once. mentioned the name of +fgis ghost. A brief statement that Mr. The - •hey guarded their secret well, :and be could never tell Rachel by what means he was earning that :regular income. They walked slowly down the sunlit path, and the world hadclover looloed no lovely in Rachel Verney's eyes, fur Geoffrey )Randal was at her side, and she knew he had not forgotten -that the never ,would forgeb. •'They stopped pres- ently, reluctantly, for he had work to do -work for his master. little dusty, end the air felt hob ,arid arid, making the girl long in* tensely ler the wide spaoes and the cool freshness of the country, "When shall 1 sea you again?' he asked, eagerly. "1 may tall :and see you?" "Of course. Colne on .Sunday, eaeoffre,y." Hie took her hand and held it in a close, lingering pressure. "Rachel1 You .haven't forgot- ten the old days at the Vicarage - and the Mae bushes --can't you smell them still? And the long summer evenings when tee used to linger together in the garden. You •haven't forgotten?" A slow colas flooded her face, "I havo not forgotten," she said, clearly. Something lapb into his eyes. "I will comp on Sunday," he /said ; "till then --au revoir, Rachel. I don't mean to say good-bye to you again!" His words rang in her ears Lang After he had left her, and she trip walked back along the sunlit path, said you'll do it--off-your--•own plate, or anything g of that sort. All her heart -aflame, her mind made bat." 'plate, rough work is done for them. nip. She knew, now, without a sha- Isis eyes closed; there was a long A footman's business in the Palace dow of 'doubt, that aIhe could never Allelic. Only once mora dict The- is to wait, and bo take care he marry Harding Thesiger, siicl as elle ;siger speak, and then it Was but a makes no mistakes. 1 remember tamed into the broader walk near single word: Palatial heard it. cue nervous young footman timb- ale Marble Arch she ntet him. The "Rachel !" ling a trayful of liqueurs almost radiance in her face made bis heart A qu ner passed over his face; at the very feet of his Imperial Ma- icap, lb was fur hits --dist Imp- rile (gain died out of it. Thesiger )csty the Kaiser) But an incident [,Tress which 'shone softly out of had joined the great majerit'y. of this kind is very exceptional, her sweeteyes-for him. Ito never * * * * * for as a rule, the sere thought of failure now. Had he A year later and Geoffrey Ran - not stooped to trickery to gain her? dal achieved fame and married Res Surely. its reward would not be taloa Verney. Thom are those who A ROYAL FOOTMAN TAI WHAT TiHBING'S SERVANT HAVE TO DO. General Duties are Mapped Out - Royal Pootmea are Treated Very Well. The position of Royal footman 1s coveted by all upper-class servants and is, of aurae, difficult to se euro, No man has any ehanco un- less he is over six feet high, of ir- reproachable character, and can pass a very searching medical ex- amination, There are families of footmen wne have served Royalty for over a hundred and fifty years. But of late years many new names have bean written up in the footmen's room in Buckingham Palace, and many of these are men who have been recommended by different nob- lemen about the Court. "THE SERGEANT." At Buckingham Palace there ar twenty-four footmen proper, i eluding the "Sergeant Footman and the "Deputy -Sergeant Foo man." The term "head footman' is never used in the Palace.; he i "the Sergeant." But in addition to these twenty four there are many others, wh are dressed exactly the same, bu whose duties are quite different. They are •stationed in the corridors act as porters, and so on. The general duties of a footma proper are all mapped out for hi most exactly. There is a large tom mon-room, known as "the foo man's room," and over the mantle piece hangs a big board bearing the names of all the footmen. An against the name of every' man o Say are written his instruction for the day. Royal footmen have four sets livery -morning livery, undress lir cry, dress livery, and State livery The morning livery comprises caatee, waist -coat, and trousers o the best Oxford grey cloth. Then there is the undress livery, whit is worn when waiting at •all meals with the exception of dinner. I rather belies its name, as, in rea lity, it is very handsome. The caatee is of Royal starlet, with shoulder -cords of gold lace, and twenty large and six small gold- plated buttons, bearing the Royal cipher "E. R.," capped by the crown. Blue plush breeches take the place of trousers, and are pro vides with gold -lace garters, with a little hanging black coxcomb to set off the flesh -colored stocking. And to show up the scarlet of the Goatee, the waistcoat is a blue cloth edged with gold lace. 0 n- s 0 t n m t- d • s of a f h t EVENING DRESS. At dinner the footmen appear dressed in a scarlet epaulette coat, with blue cloth cuffs, false vest all siger had been knocked down and ethged with gold lace of the Royal Sun over by a motor -omnibus was pattern familiarly known as "check- ed' he heard, but it was enough to and -vellum." The breeches are the same as in the undress livery, as are the calf shoes, or "pumps," adorned with gold-plated buckles. Lastly, there is the State livery, with its cocked hat and general gorgeousness. But there is a lit- tle point about the State livery that puzzles most neople except Court officials. That is a small black cloth bag just under the nape of the foot- man's neck, a survival from the days when footmen wore wigs. In this bag the tail of the wig was housed, and this prevented it from soiling the livery. Now -a -days the only Royal servants who wear wigs axe the coachmen on State am - lend wings to his beet. Ten min- utes later he stood beside the bed cm witch Thesiger was lying -just breathing, but conscious; his face leas ghastly. A cautious word from a couple of doctors standing by told Geoffrey that there was no crape; death would mercifully re- lease the injured man in a few ,min- utes. "I --must speak toyou alone," gasped Thesiger, hoarsely, and the doctors drew aside, walked to the window, and there stood speaking together in low tones. The room %ras very. silent. One electriclight glowed softly. "So you've won -you've beaten see;" he said, slowly, in, a queer, ,whispering vaioe. "You've got genius -and Rachel. I loved her, you see. She only cares for you. 1C ell, We all up now. It was for her I tricked the world and shack- led you -to win her. It was no use. !Vandal, you won't tell her?" "I won't tell Ater," said Geoffrey slowly, meeting the anguished eyes *hf the dying man. "No one shall irrer know." Thesiger heaved a sigh. "You're a good fellow. Randal. I've treated you shabbily," lie said, "but you've got Rachel. You'll win fame -everything you want, mons. Although the footman is no long- er onber expected to wear a wig, he has to powder his hair very carefully indeed. He first dips his head in water, sad, after plastering the hair down, sprinkles powder on it cut of a kind of pepper -box. Pow- dering the hair is one of the few disagreeable duties in the life of a Royal footman. Footmen's work chiefly consists of waiting at table, answering bells, and, when en driving duty, in op- ening carriage doors. Unlike the footmen in ordinary households, the King's footmen never soil their hands by "washing-up," cleaning without the slightest hitch. In all my experience of the Pal ace-nnd it covers a period of thir- long delayed now. He asked her remark that his genius is much ty-five years --I can only recall two urgently, with feeling, to give him akin to that of Harding Thesiger, instances of footmen beim dismiss - his answer. and lir stared at her ,whose tragic death just tit the ed, and, as can be imagined, the unbelievingly when she told him eerutih ef lhis literary fare caused (hien never heave of their own ac- sitch a painful sensation, but. Ran- cord. xittl makes, no comment on those It is against, the etiquette that 'opinions, The past is dead. He exists among Royal footmen for a has the present and the fntur,e- mats to refer to the amount of bis owl itachel ; more, Ile would tell wages. ,you, than, his share of )happiness, REGAL REPASTS, :cc, !hat• innthing else matters, --Lon- The Royal footmen are 'ion 'Cit -Bits, l]. a treated very well. Before and State ev- 'I' enid inusi .ion a cold collation A bran knnws just what he would b,ee , ol, be ei, l • bran of , breed, and cheese is "I--1 thought :I should never sea do in rase e.1 an einergcney-ao served in the footmen's dining -hall. ,klub again," said Rachel, in a low ling as the 0hnergene�• fails to show This meal is usually obtained about voice. "1 did not know if he lived up, his own useless seeeshings for work 1 1^;ontly, but wall such a terrible --he 'looked back on the e days, and finality, that; her answer mast be .tights, and weals of horror'! he. one" thought of his dulic•atn )nother, „There is seri-mono else?" he ask - living on next to nothing 11 s die- ed, .hotscly, He had grown very whits. She looked at him bravely. "lyes." "Yon -it would,levee been kinder to tell me this before," he saki, r: ith di(iic:ulty. same (lav, whoa states:+ sheiiddhave seaweed hlin , After all, why Tint.? Re was roar, friendless. alone. lis could not ef- •fard to wait. funetion is over, the footmen have their banquet, often graced with the host of wines, including chain - ane g With regard to marriage, most of 13rezil supplies half the world's the married footmen aro allowed coffee; to; live outside the Palace, with a A Lingle bee oolleets only a, tea. liberal ailowauae for board, spoonful of honey during a season. For men whogrow very old in Twenty-seven thousand vessels the service pensions aro always yearly enter the port of Loudon. provided? not of right, but by grace Nine days'siekness in a year it of the Ring. Othersnare pensioned the average mown; suffered by a off as lodgekeepers, eta„ on the human being. various Reese estates, -London An A squadron, in Army parlance, seers, consists of two troops, each of ga RAMMED OE WHISp)i13s, Little Bits of Inferinatitrn Whi;nlr It Would l e Well 40 Know. /IOW INSECTS BREATHE. Curious System of Tubes That Ran the length of Bodies. Landlubber animals have lungs to 100 men. Thereading-room ish Museum haoon modation for 60,000 Beeks. Doctors in 11'r once are prohibit. el by law from inheriting proper.. ty left them by deceased patients. and sew creatures have fills. But Red-haired people are less like- insects have neither one nor the like- ly become bald than those who e other, They have a complex sys have their hair of other tints. tem of tubes running throughout The 'Salvation Army is establish - the whole length of the body, by ed in fifty-two countries .and colon - means of which air is conveyed to ries, and Ascetics the Gospel in every part of the system. As they( thirty two languages. are destined to contain nothing but, The Turkish bath was introduce air, they are strongly supported to ed into England about fifty years guard against collapse from pres- sure, This support is furnished by mane of a fine thread running spirally within the walls of the tube, much in the same way that a Ware hairpins wore first menu - garden hose is protected with wire. factures in England in 1545. The There are generally two of these g rho length female coiffures were held in plate ago by the Eastern traveller, Mr. David Urquhart, M. P. The standard from which the English yard measure is taken was the arm of King Henry I., which was exactly three feet long. tubes which run of the insect's body. whole . g Many flies, as larvae, live in the water. Arranged along each side of their bodies is a series of ex- ceedingly thin plates, into each of which runs a series of blood ves- sels. These plates act and absorb the oxygen contained in the water. The tail ends in three featherlike projections. By means of these the larvae causes currents of water tc flow over the gills and thus their efficiency is increased. The gnat also lives in the water as a larva. But it bas no gills. Therefore it cannot breathe the oxygen in the water bail most breathe air. This is clone by means of a spioade situated at the tip of its tail. Indeed, the tail is pro- longed into a little tube. The lar• va floats along head downward in the water with this tube just above the surface to enable it to breathe. After some time it is provided with two little tubes which act in the same manner. MR. PICK1';I CIC'S INN. Leather Bottle Much the Same as When Dickens Lived There. The Leather Bottie Inn of Pict wick fame is still standing in th gaint old village of Cobham. Dick ens spent ,several days and night there before and after the writin of "Pickwick," and his visitors a Gads Hill were generally taken fa awalk' through the woods to b shown the picturesque inn. To -day it is a shrine for Dickon pilgrims, according to the Queen who visit it in increasing number and leave their names in the wel worn bulky visitors' books. Stil the house remains a village inn o an older time, with low ceilings oak panels, small windows an heavy furniture. It is very much as it was whe the immortal •Boz spent Ms tiro there creating the scene which i at least as well known as any othe in the story of Mr. Pickwick' feasts and fancies; but the Dicker room, the bar parlor and in fat the whole house is overflowing with prints and pictures and sketches of the famous novelist and the cre- ations of his fertile mind. It was in the ehurehyard across the road from the Leather Bottle -as it was then known. though now more often called the Pickwick Inn -that Mr. Pickwick reasoned long and earnestly with the despondent Tupman, who bad lad fortified himself at the Leather Bottle for a prema- ture departure from an unrespon- sive world. The one street of the pieturesque village of Cobham forms an avenue of neat cottages, with an atmos- phere of contented old age charac- teristic of the country so famously described by Dickens as unap- proacha.ble for its "apples, cher- ries, hops and women." It is one o£ the loveliest parts of Kent, about three miles from Rochester. e s g t r e s 5 1 1 f cl n e s r s s t WHERE ? He was a burly navvy and she as nu less burly wife, and they were airing their views 111 no un- certain planner on the pavement. Presently a good Samaritan in- tervened. "See here, my roan," he pro- tested, "this sort of thing won't do." "What business is it of yonrs, I'd ike to know," snarled the man, turning from his wife. "It's only my business in so fes as I can be of help in settling this cispute," answered the Samaritans mildly. 'This ain't do dispute,'" growled he man. "No dispute! But my dear ri cud•--'' "1 tell you it ain't no dispute," nsist eel the man. "She" -jerk - ng his thumb toward the woman - `thinks she ain't goin' to get my week's wages, and I know she. in't. Where's the dispute in 't hat " 1 1 t 4 a 0.30 pen,. And then, when the t by five wooden skewers before that time. Eighty horses generally stand in the Castle stables when the Court is at Windsor, and at the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace 120 horses are kept. Japan has no national music, and the first melodies many of the race ever heard, apart from those of the birds, were hymns sung by Christian missionairies. As shown by the camera, a flash of lightning is made up in innumer- able small flashes, each one follow- ing the other by an almost imper- ceptible period of time. Some of the African tribes pull their fingers till the joints "crank"' as. a form of salutation, and one tribe has the curious fashion of showing friendship by standing back to back - There are parts o'f Spain where the hat is unknown, except in pic- tures. The men, when they need a covering, tie up their heads in a handkerchief, and the women use flowers. The ,human skeleton consists of some 200 bones, though the nunp ler of separate bones varies at dif- ferent times of life. Bones which are distinct in early life become fused in old age. The German Empire was formed is 1871, after the Franco-German War, by the confederation of twen- ty-six states, many of which had already been united as the North German Confederation. The term "infantry" was first used by the Spaniards in the wars with the Moors to designate the bodyguard of a Royal Prince or In- fanta. It was extended to the en- tire body ea foot soldiers, and fin- ally adopted throughout Europe. The Czar of Russia probably owns agreater quantity of china than any other person in the world. He has the china belonging to all the Russian rulers as far back as Cath- erine the Great. It is stored in an immense closet in the Winter Pal- ace at St. Petersburg. The Germans are learning the lesson that thrift requires saving in small things. There the steel pens thrown away iu the schools and offices are conscientiously gath- ered, melted up, and made into knife -blades, and other articles of value. Perfumes have been used from f he• earliest tinges. The burning of perfumed incense was one of the rites of the Hebrew and Pagan re- ligions, and perfumes of various sorts were used by nearly all the nations of antiquity. Both the Ro- mans and the Greeks were skilled in making perfumery. It was from the Arabs, who possessed the art of preparing perfumed waters, thee the use of perfumes was introduced into mediaeval Europe. s — POINTS IN PHILOSOPHY. The fatted calf never thinks kind- ly of the black sheep. But for our troubles we wouldn't be able to appreciate happiness, No one admires yet envies sin- verity so ninth as the confirmed hypocrite, On the sea of matrimony, Cupid doesn't always go with the "tied," • Even when a man proves himself a. woman's superior she doesn't be- lieve it. • The man who depends upon luck will soon have nothing else to de- pend upon. We blame Providence for our pov- erty, but give ourselves the credit for our wealth. WIl OW S' CAPS. The widow's eap is a survival of. en old Boman custom, Widows -were obliged to wear their weeds for ton months, and the bereaved woman shahc.l her h<acl as a tukon of mourning. Naturally the widow ctnlcl not very well appear itt pub Iia with a band head, so dainty chaps wereitmade in order to hide the dis- figurement. The rap still remains though the ihnnlediste necessity tort its existence has lona passod'away.