Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1909-11-18, Page 3IIOW WE CELT OUR NAMES DERIVED PROM ALL SORTS OP - SOURCES. Sonne of the Most Aeistoex'atlo Sounding Nantes are of Ignoble Origin. Hereditary surnames did not be- gin to be generally used before about the year 1500, and even, then they were largely what we should now designate nicknames. Sometimes these were complimen- tary, and omplimen-tary,and from. such are reseended our Goodfellows, Makepeaccs,, Trueloves, Lovejoys, and so forth. More frequently they wore the re- verse.. Our ancestors were very blunt and outspoken. That is why there are people now living under the burden of such 'idiotic patrony- mics as Hogsflesh, •Giddyhead, Sparewater, Scuttlomaw, and Whalebelly. Needless to say, neither railways -nor motor -ears were in existence at the period when the surname was being evolved. and consequently family names tended to group them• selves together in certain portion- lar localities. And this rule still holds good to a certain modified ex- tent You must look for Death in Cam- bridgeshire. for instance, and Daft in Nottinghamshire, By Tre, Pol, and Pen, says the old saw. ye shall know the Cornish men. In some of the Welsh counties one out of every seven persons is named' Jones, with the very frequent pro - fix, in the case of the males, of John. Indeed, .the .Registrar -Gen- eral once remarked that if "John Jones" were called out at a mar- ket in 1Va1es, either everybody would come, or nobody—either ev- erybody; thinking that you meant each, or nobody, because you had not added some description which. should distinguish the particular John Jones you wanted. MAKERS OF MEAL -BINS. Nest to the nicknames, what are known to genealogists as occupa• tive names are the most common, and many of these arc very interest- ing because they inshrine the tit- les of once important but now for- gctten industries or callings. • Thus the Arkwrights were ori- ginally makers of old-fashioned meal -bins, shaped like a Noah's Ark. The surname Catchpoll, some- times -spelt Catchpole, a fairly com- mon one, shows that policemen were plentiful enough in England hundreds of years before the days of Sir Robert Peel. They were so oalled because, as they walked their boat, they carried a somewhat for-' midable weapon, very like a pitch- fork, the two -hinged prongs of which slipped round the neck, and formed a steel collar. The officer then had the criminal entirely at his mercy and could ei- ther drag him or shove him along by the pole attached, which was from six to seven feet in length. He was called a Catchpoll, because he caught his victim by the head, or -poll. NO SUCH TERM AS LEG. These old terms linger in many names. The first Mr. Cruikshank, for example, was undoubtedly pos- sessed of legs that were not quite straight, and had he lived to -day, instead of four or flue hundred years back, he would have been Mr. Bowleg. Our ancestors knew no such word as leg, which is a comparatively modern importation into the langu age, but always used the term "shank," Consequently there are few names with "leg' as an ingre- dient, because all our surnames had been invented, and had become- "set," so to speak, centuries ere that word came into common use. Some of the most aristocratic 'sounding names are of quite com- mon, or even ignoble, origin. Cal- vert, for instance, is merely a cor- ruption, for ,Oalveherd. The ori- einal Napier looked after the nap- ry (table linen \in. solve baronial hall, where also found employment the original Chamberlain, Butler, Carver, Page, and so forth. On the other Band, however, Howard has nothing to do with "hogward," although the contrary has frequently been asserted, Our Hoggarts (often ,corrupted into Haggart or shortened to Hogarth) are the natural descendants of the hogherds of olden tines; but the Sowards were here -wards, or GUARDIANS OF THE FENCES. Tho Duke of Norfolk's ancestors were possibly related to Hercivard the Wake. I say "possibly," and it is as far as I dare go, although I have seen a pedigree of His Grace, compiled by an enthusiastic ama- teur genealogist, • whish reached' front the ceiling to the floor, and half way through had n note to the effect that "about this time Adam wase born." One feat tliflicult • in deal g y with names is the loose method of spellingthat was formerly in vogue, Everybody knows that Shakespeare wrote his name in several different ways, and it may be safely assumed that if a 10tn11, and an educated reran at that,' did not know in the least • how to spell his own name, others would be still less likely to be ue- curute. And this is Saab what hap- pened, There are, for instance,' fifty-six variants of so simple a name as Jack known to genealogists. Sir Wil- liam Dugdale found the Cheshire "Mainwarings" in no fewer than 131 forme, ranging through all the variations of "Mainwayrings," to "Meiuilwarin," and " Mcsilwar- en," While amongst the scores of variants of Shakespeare actually extant in old documents (though) of course, not,written by the poet) are Shaxper, Sohakospeyr, Shaks- peere, Saxper, Schaquospeayer, and Shaxbure, COMMON NAMES. On the other hand, some of the more common names are spelt now pretty much as theywore at the be- ginning, Smith, for example, has always been Smith, or Smyth, or Smythe, ever siueo the first Smith called himself, or was called by others, after his calling. It is curi- ous to note, by the way, how even this most (summon of all English names is found clustered tog ether in certain well-defined areas, In olden times the chief seats of the English iron inclustrywere' not as .now. in the districts where coal is most plentiful, but in those tha', wore beat weeded, Here the Slain) flourished, •ancl here their descend- ants are found most thickly 'to -day. In the name -area maps of Eng- land that have been compiled Um time to time by genealogists, the once heavily -timbered counties of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire are dotted thi•:Ic with Smiths, while in Devon ' and Cornwall they are practically neo - existent. Robinson (the son of Robin) was originally a Scottish border name,. and still clings there or there'abouti Draw a line across England from east to west in the vicinity of Northampton„ and you have to the north of it nineteen out of even twenty Robinsons living in Great: Britain. THE BROWNS are distributed all over England, but very capriciously and irregular- ly. There are, for instance, thrac Browns in Staffordshire (reckoning per 10,000 of population) to every one in the adjoining county of War. wick; while in Oxfordshire they number only fifteen per 10,000, as against no fewer than 102 in neigh- boring Wiltshire. Wales is the death -ground of the name. Baker clings to the coast. You will find it running right round the maritime counties of England, bat it dies out suddenly • at the . Cheviot Hills, and extends nowhere very far inland. Balls as a surname is re stlicted to East Anglia, while Ball is common everywhere. There are practically no 'Lambs in Devonshire or Cornwall, whits Northumberland and Durham swarm with them. Ifryou know a man named Marshall, it is practical- ly a certainty that he or his ances- tors hailed originally from Notts or Lincolshire. Tho Parsons came from Wilts in the beginning just as the Chapman)) hailed from Bent. The Powels and the Prices spread from a common centre in Herefordshire. .Out of Cornwall, at some time or another, migrated northward all the Tre- lawneys, the Maddivers, the Knee- bones, the Tregellascs, the Vespers, the Tremaynes, the Uglows, the Jelbarts, and the Retallicks, that live scattered up and down between Tamar and Tweed. "TOURS SINCERELY." Origin of This Method of Signing Your Letters. .. Have you ever reflected, when.you finish up your letter "Yours sin- cerely,. John Smith," why you do so, or when cane the origin of this epistolary method of subscribing to your state of mind in regard to any particular correspondent? Well, if you subscribed yoniself "Yours without wax, John Smith," itwould amount to the same thing: Here's how :— When the Roman jurymen return- ed their verdicts they usually did so on a'wax tablet. In cases, how- ever, %where the verdict was over- whelming.in favor of a person on trial for any offence they were al- lowed to give their verdict ''Sine cera"—that is to say, without wax, inscribing their' vedict on the wax j, tablet (cera). So, when you sub- c scribe yourself "Yours sincerely" to a person you mean—when you are serious of course—that your regard for him is above -board. "Yours faithfully" is the business style; "Yours 'truly" the usual form; and "Yours, etc.," the most unpardonable, of epistolary atroci- ties, according to the unwritten Evencode.. ven a Cabinet Minister, when writing to you in the official style, will subscribe himself "Your obedi- ent, humble. servant." A ren eh. rat an will -tell you`that "hc. rennins, HERO OFMAGERSFONTEIN TIURUI,LI 4O STORIES' OJ' TUE VICTORIA CROSS, Gallant Decd Performed by Ca]Ilain Tome of the Gordon lfighlanders. Pathetic indeed was an incidell which narked the recent inspectio of the Gentlemen -at -Arms by th King. A tall, well-built, handsom soldier was carefully plioted befor His Majesty by a fellow-oiiieer. 1 was Captain E. B, B. Towse, V, C. whose eyes were shattered whil leading a brilliant charge again the Boers during the South Africal War, The story of that charge wit long live in the memories of th Gordon Higlanders, that regimen which has so many heroic deeds o its roll of honor, and to which Cap twin Towse belonged. CAPTAIN TOWSE'S BRAVERY. On April 30th, 1900, Captain Tow se, with twelve soon, took up a Po sition on Mont Thaba.' He was to tally unsupported ; but it was no thought any of the enemy wer near. Suddenly, however, a party of Boers, over a hundred strong who had also made fon the position appeared a hundred yards off. See ing that they outnumbered th Highlanders, the Boers called upon Captain Towse to surrender. His prompt reply was to give . a ringing command to his men to fir and then charge, the Boers being now about forty yards distant. 1'h sudden onslaught of these twelv intrepid Britishers, with their gal lant leader, caused the Boers t waver and fall back; and thus th situation was saved. But the victory was dears bought ; for the men, to their grea grief, saw a bullet shatter the eye of their captain, who,has, cense quently, never been able to look on the Cross of Valor which was duly a ,warded him. RESCUING THE COLONEL. Neither was this the only deed o gallantry performed by Captain Towse during the Boer War. :rive months previously, on "Black Mon day" (December filth, 1899), at the disastrous Battle of Magorsfontein when Lord Methuen fought 15.0no Boers with 11,000 men, with terrible loss, Captain Towse earned the ti- tle of the "Hero of Magersfontein." Concealed in their trenches, the Boers could not be driven out, and Lord Methuen was obliged to re- tire to the Modder River, A terrible fire from rifles and pom-poms at close range struck down one in five of the Highland Brigade under General Wauchope, who also fell, riddled with bullets, Colonel G. T. °F. Downman, Cap- tain Towse's commanding officer, was also struck down. But in spite of the hail of bullets Captain Towse hoisted the Colonel on his back and bone him away. It was a gallant deed, well in keeping with the glori- ous traditions of the famous Gor- dons. n. e 0 0 wandering about the country, and e public exhibition is made of .the t prisoner daily',• t The Sultan thinlcs Bu Remora has 1 large sums of money deposited in e foreign banks, • and considers the t cash, wnn]d, be 'nmeh beater in his n ::own coffers. So his Majesty's ser- - vents have severely questioned the prisoner, but the latter declines to vin business wits anybody hut the Sultan, to whom he is willing to hand: over any treasure he may - possess if bit personal safety is guaranteed by the foreign:represen- t tatives. e Mulai Hand refuses to look at the matter in that light. He has got lin Hamara and does not intend to , let him go. But he wants the mon- - ev, and thinks he may prevail upon e. his prisoner togive it nn. To that end he is slaving a devilish contriv- ance made. It takes the rough form of a shirt. but is made of wood, and e is studded inside with sharp -pointed nails, so that no shatter how slight e a movement Bu Hamara may retake e some points will be perpetually - sticking into him, while lying. down O will be impossible. e PENSIONS FOR ANIMALS. y — t Horses, Dog, Cat, Sheep, Profit by s Doctor's VI'ill. SULTAN'S SAVAGE REYEYGE Rules' Tortures Pretender V19 1l Nall.Stu,dded Garment. Having gained the whip hand of the rebels, Mulai Ilafid, Sultan of Morocco, is taking a savage re. vodge. Not content with torturing men with having their hands and feet cut off (the bleeding l;tumps then being plunged into bossing pitch), be ministered to his lust for blood by ordering the teeth of all the cantered women to be drawn, But he isreservina itis most in - genions tortures for )3u Hamara or E1 Roghi, the Pretender. En Ha - /tiara is confined in a cage, wllit'lt is placed inside the tent he used while In the will of Dr. Bell Taylor of Nottingham, England, provision is made for the comfort of all his ani- mals for ,the remainder of their litres. Beneficiaries under the will f include : Soldier Boy. a white car- riage horse once ridden by Lord Roberts at a review ; Dancing Doll, - another white horse, purchased from a Scarborough doctor; an old cab 'horse, bought out of sympathy for its worn-out' eonditiop ; another horse, which Dr. Taylor purchased when it was about to be shipped to Antwerp to be converted into horse - beef; Billie, an Aberdeen terrier; Fluff, a Persian cat ; several fowls; some sheep, for which Dr. Taylor paid 10s. a head above the butcher's price to save them from the slaugh- ter -house. For several years. says -"The Ani- mal World," Dr. Taylor used to visit Scarborough at the close of the season, and, after picking out or the sands the horse which seem- ed to him to be in the worst condi- tion, would send it to Nottingham, keep it in luxury for the winter, and return it to the owner at the beginning of the following season. No animal was beneath his notice. It is said that he even. had a pond specially made in his garden in which all the leeches which he had used in his surgery were placed af- ter they hacl performed their du- ties to mankind. d WHITEWASIII:NG COIL. Not Done for the Sake or Neatness but to Prevent Thcfis. Persons Who have been somewhat astonished by hating whitewashed coal delivered to them will be inter- ested to know that the whitewash- ing is not done to improve the ap- pearance or to increase the burning qualities ; the treatment neither im- proves nor harms the fuel It is a detective.scheme on the part of the railroads to locate and to prevent theft of the coal as it is hauled from the mines to the con- sumer. These depredations amount is thousands of tons annually and the railroads are the sufferers, as it, is up to them to deliver as many tons at destination, often a thou- sand miles away,. as was weighed in 1 ache')the car was turned over fon transportation. Two or tlure tons may be rennov e ed from a carload containing forty i tone without attracting attention to its decreased quantity until the car is again placed on the scales. To locate the loss, says the Popular b Mechanic, lime water is sprayed a over a carload of eoal. ln a short, time the water lies evaporated,leaving a load of white coal. Then removal of any leaves a big black spot which is quickly noticed by m- si,ectm's rout station agents, and the rale found and stopped. Lord Inverclyde presided at a public meeting in Dumbarton see- mly to consider the future of the astle. The soberness of the Jews makes hem the healthiest people in the world. A Jew's life averages Inc. v-nino years, a Christian's iwly thirty-seven years. GOLD IN THE ZUYDER ZEE. Lost in Shipwreck—Will'he Search. ed For. The Dutch await with curiosity tl-e results of a work undertaken in the Zuyder Zee. On Oct. 9, 1799, the English ship -of -war Lutin sank in Dutch waters, carrying with it to the botton thirty millions of geld and silver in bars that the Brittst Cabinet was sending to Hambuug. to help at a financial crisis la the Hanse towns. The cargo, insu"ol for nearly twenty-five millions. was entirely lost. The Dutch Government, urged by Fiance, tried to recover the wreck, but a violent storm covered the ship with such -a thickness of sand thatit had. to be given up. After Grarestoration of European peace the King of Holland abandoned 1 is rights to his English colleague, who ceded them to the company of Lloyd. Tho company made a new atter pi in 1820 and its efforts were not un- successful, for they drew from tho ship 198 bars of silver and 1,200 in- gots of gold, a total value of $2,- 500.000. Probably francs are meant The company of Lloyd has entr red flsto a contract with another soci- etv w•lreh to -day undertakes 11,e work with the help of a new appara- ,s invented by an engineer nameddice. This apparatus is eomr.s- rt of a floating bridge, at the keel I which are fixed the instruln'011 r dicing, Thev consist of a nc,o er of pipes which can 001111 up in 1 wenty-four hours 40.000 ton ' . f nd. At true extremity of rL"s': pee cote finds the room of the div s, all built of metal. This chitin 'e or rests on indented wheels plea c c1 in action by a motor of a pap ti ilar system, in such a manner that e divers can remove their renin t to a carriage, incl roll it at the ttom of the sea, which makes Cis t ark easier and quicker.--Lonrl'o lobe. on without going to the formality of ' It n fn t ae 1)1e1 b e of 111 bo 0 with especial sentiments of the high- est consideration" your Jules Le Mouton. A Chinaman will say, 01 "Farewell, const favored of heaven. (11 UMW the gods :preserve your honor- an able teeth." \ HOLIDAYS OF ROYALTY RULERS' VARIOUS TASTES IN MERRY -MAKING, Czar of Russia Enjoys a Quiot.IUo* Way—King Alfonso Likes to Drive a Motor Car. Since Royalties are forced by their position to live under the lime- light, it is no wonder that, on the rare occasions when they can take. a real holiday, their one great ides, is to get away frons the crowd. Of course, there are exceptions. The Itaiser, for instance, is not happy alone, He must be always up and doing, and seems never so well satisfied as when in the midst of a cheering multitude, or leading his troops at a big review, But his neighbor, the Czar of Rus- sia, hates the glare of publicity. He is very conscientious, and nearly kills himself with hard work; but round the whole year he is looking forward to those few brief weeks that he can spend either at his country home, Livadia, in the Cm• mea, or, betterstill, on his bid, yacht Standart in the Northern Baltic. In this calm, shallow 'sea there is a large number of uninhab- ited islands, Among ahem the Standart anchors, and, while a fleet of torpedo boats keePsall in- truders at a distance, THE GREAT WHITE CZAR goes fishingin a rowingboat, just like an- ordinary trippr, or runs races on the sand with his children, to the huge delight of the little ones, 'The Bing of Italy, though both mentally and physically" a farrstron- ger mangy than the Czar, is equally fond of a few quiet days in the bos- om of his family. , His pet retreat is Monza, where he has a large'. ,farm. Monza has the most exqui- sitely beautiful grounds and gar- dens, shut off from prying eyes by splendid forest trees, In these grounds is a pretty lake, with a boathouse. Here, early in the morn- ing, King Victor Emmenuel takes a leisurely swim. The aged Emperor of Austria is devoted to sport. He has a little shooting -box at Eisenerz, in Styria, where; until his health gave way two years ago, he spent a holiday every autumn. Here you might have seen him tramping among the rug- ged mountain peaks, RIFLE IN HAND, and clad in the dress of a Tyrolean mountaineer, with bare knees, heavy woollen stockings, and hob- nailed boots. Spain has a stupid law, which pro- vides that the King and the heir to the throne must not be out of the country' at one and the same time. Consequently, last year, when Queen Victoria Eugenie went to the Isle of Wight to stay with her mother, taking with her the in- fant Prince of the Asturias, her husband bad to stay at home. But Alfonso has lois holidays, and what he likes best of all is a long run in one of his big motors, which he nearly always drives himself. No road frightens him, however steep or (rough. The King and Queen of Norway are both confirmed sightseers, only the sights they most enjoy are the beautiful lakes, mountains, and glaciers of their own country. Each summer they go away on a d'iiying tom'. Ignoring the charms of mo toning, their tour is made in a little pony -trap. Three years ago Queen Maud, driving herself, had a des• perately narrow escape from death. Up on a perilous mountain pass her horse suddenly shied and backed, so that one wheel of the trap actually OVERHUNG THE PRECIPICE to the loft. It was the Xing Mini• self who rushed forward and resell.ed her from her perilous position The work which Prince Albert et Monaco. has clon.o for science is I nown all over the world. All suis tolidays are spent at sea in his Facht Princess Alice, which is imply a great workshop, fittedwith very sort of apparatus for exploit - ng tho deeps of the ocean, and the weird ereatnt'es that live therein One night, far out in the Bay of 3iscay, Prince Albert set affoat a rilliantly-lighted buoy moored to fish trap sunk in the depths bo - Tramp --"Please help a poor sick i an, lady.'' Ladv.—"Why, .you 1 ln't look shalt." Tramp --"Well, 1 ,1ady,'owfulty sick," Lady --- a V(tatofi" Tramp. -"Work," Some people have a genius for Ela 0a evrlrything wrong. They arc i]te the Irishman's frog, who al• wpm's stood up when sue sat clew 1, g nil always sot down when he stood y h d IN MERRY OLD ENGLAND NEWS AT MAIL ABOUT JOHN .R.IJLL AND HIS PEOPLE. 0 euereneos in, the Land Taal Reigns Supreme in the Com- mercial World. July 18 and 23. of next year have been fixed as the opening end clos- ing days of the Chester pageant. Mr. William Curtis, aged eighty. eight, has just acted as best mart at a wedding at Tiverton, Devon. Eton Urban District Council de- clared a rate of sevenpence in the pound, the lowest urban rate in the kingdom. Mr. William Hussey, a blind man of Uxbridge, whose funeral took place recently, had been married five times, His first wife was also blind. It was stated' at Old street Police Court, London, that 10,000 wooden paving, blocks belonging to the Bethnal Green Borough Council had been stolen in the streets. . The Layton District Committee has received a remittance of £17 10s. saved from the wages of a man who was assisted to emigrate to Australia a year ago. For fishing within the three mile limit off Aldeburgh two Belgian trawlers were towed into Lowestoft under arrest by H. M. S. Halcyon, the Fisheries Protection oruiser. A woman named Ann Wall, aged eighty-three, has died at the Stroud Workhouse, where she has been an imbecile inmate all her life at a cost of £1,500 to the ratepayers. It was stated before the Ashton Guardians that a woman named Ashby died from eating fine copper at her work, the fragments having formed a globular mass in her sto- mach. A woman obtained a summons at Willesden Police Court against an- other woman for discharging fire- works through the keyhole of her g y e door and setting fire to her dress. Motor -omnibuses traversing the Edgeware road, says "Motor Trac- tion," "hava increased by 158 per cent. in the past three years, and horse omnibuses have declined by 84 per cent." Breaking open a safe at the New Inn, near Llanelly, Carmarthen- shire, on Surday, thieves secured £140 in gold, part of which was con- tributions of the local members of the Mining Federation. For striking his superior. officer, Wm. Marsh, a first-class stoker in H. M. S. Black Prince, was at a Chatham court-martial sentenced to six months' hard labor and dis- missed from the service. Hundreds of men who have been on strike at Newcastle Colliery, Nottingham, accepted the owners' terms and returned to work. One thousand miners, however, are still out at the neighboring CIifton pits. Mn. Chamberlain has written from Highbury congratulating Sir Alfred Jones on the success of the British Cotton Growing Associa- tion, which he thinks most import- ant both to the colonies and true cot- ton trade. A carved elephant tusk over 2,000 years old, supposed to have been taken from ,Burmese temple, and to have lost color at the .tip from the worshippers kissing it, was sold by auction at Mr. Stevens' rooms, London, recently. Ninety Roman Catholic pilgrims from all parts of the British Em- pire left Charing Cross Station for Rome, where they will have an au- dience of the Pope. Dr. Whiteside, the Bishop of Liverpool, accompani- ed the party. The death has occurred at St. Al - ban's of Mme. Emma Le Clair, aged 89. She was the daughter of Mr. William Brown, of St. Alban's, who was a descendant of John Bunyan, She herself embraced the Boman Catholic faith, The Government have agreed with the Government of the United States to renew the modus vivendi of 1908 for the regulation of the Newfoundland Fisheries until the termination of the arbitration'pro- ceedings before The Hague Tribu- nal. A CURIOUS TREE. Among the curiosities of tree life is the solar, or whistling tret, of Nubia. When the winds blow over his tree it gives out ifute-lika ounds, playing away to the wilder - less for hours at a time strange, weird melodies, It is the spirit of he dead singing among the branch. r, the natives say, but the scienti- c' white matt says that the sounds se clic to a myriad of small holes which an insect bores in the spines or the branches, The. weeping !roc f the Canary. islands is anoth.t'r shorcaI freak. This tree in time nest weather' will rain down show• rs from its loaves, and the nate •:,s ;Alm up the water' from the po•rl .rtned at the fool of the trunk and nd it pure and fresh, The tree mules the water from innumerable ores situated al the base of the 'avcs. -• Chicago Journal, 4' Our idea of a wise elan is one ho doesn't dispense free adv -ice, Alaska has sixty -ono schools for the edneation of Indians, and thir- teen others are bein no a cd low. Passing vessels saw the light, a nud thinking a disaster had occur. 11 red, harried to the rescue, In an hour three steamers were. gathered t like moths round a candle, and a e collision w•as only narrowly avert fm ed. --London Answer's, a 1'1.11H:APS, cl a If there were less scandal, per- 41 haps formal calls would also bo e fewer. „ f, Landlady. - "Yor make an awful 'II noise with that fife." '13nnrder-•- e Well, I'm sorry to hear it," Land- p lady "So's everybody else." 1 George --"leather than remain single, would you marry the big rt est fool on earth, if he asked so Clara --"Oh, this is so and. en, George!" FROM ALL Q1UART,ERS, Interesting Items Fronn.tbo World Fops' r~'ottnees, aver 800 exeoutxoits took plate is Russia last year. Clergymen in England and Wales . number about 30,000, England's longest railway tunnel . is the Severn tunnel. China has ten cities with popular tions of over half a mii)ion, 'There are aver 30,000 echools in the United IKingdorn. Part of.the present Tower of Lan- don was built, by William I. About 30,000 letters pass every day between Britain and France, Over three-fourths of 'the people in England and Wales live' in towns, , Most Eu1'opean countries show a steady declining birth-rate. Consumption kills nearly 40,000 persons every year in' England. About three-fourths of the world's Cotton supply comes from the United States. No Victoria Cross has been away- ded to any soldier or tailor for over four years, Of every million .people in Eng- land and. Wales, about 25 die every year.from smallpox. Seaweed becomes dry on the ads vent of fine.; limp and sticky on the advent of bad weather. Of every thousand English pooh ple, fourteen men and seventeen women are unable to write. . It is said that in Scotland there are 146 parishes which have no pau- pens, no poor rates, and no public - houses. In Arabia is a plant which has all the properties of laughing gas. Tho plant is known locally as "the laughing plant." Tll a e 1 test invention fs a cradle which rocks by clockwork mechan- ism and at the same time plays baby tunes. The cost is 5150. A giant mushroom, which weigh- ed 3 pounds 4 ounces, stood 174 inches high, and was 26% inches u& circumeference, has been discover,. ed in a garden at Bonneville, fin France, One of the laza of t e old' stage- stead, • drivers, Mr. envy Grim- stead has died at Hol beach, Lin- colnshire, England, aged eighty. seven. In the course of his work as coach driver, mail van driver, and letter carrier he covered 458,- 545- milds. . Mess*. Elder, Dempster es Co., of Liverpool, have adopted a suo cessful method of exterminating rats on their ships and in their warehouses. A reward of five cents per head is paid for rats caught or lulled on the ships or properties of the firm. In twelve months sone 10,000 rats have been destroyed. A dog belonging to a farmer near Bishop Stortford, England, travels wo miles across country every morning to fetch his masters news. paper. After traversing several elds he comes to the railway line, ]here he sits waiting for the train, he guard throws the paper to him tinct he picks it up and trots offf. Lome. It has taken the farmer's on two years to train him. Berlin has a shorthand writer ith a unique specialty. Be attends 11 funerals of prominent persons,. ncl takes down verbatim the ads resses of the officiating clergymen, hen he prepares highly ornaments al copies of the addresses and soll3 sem to the friends of the eulogies d dead. His business is so good has he has taken one assistant and as advertised for another. Five sisters, holding between bens twenty-seven medals for re. ular and punctual attendance, pro. ably constitute a record. This has een achieved by the Misses Clarke, Lamb's Conduit Street, Blooms- ury, who have together attended t. John's School, Red Lion street,, olborn, London, for twenty-eight ears without missing an attend - nee or being late on any day the hoot was open. The latest fact is delineating char- ter by the shape of the tongue, bus, the tongue that shoots out raight without turning or waver - g indicates a solid, reliable man affairs. Tongues that turn up dicate impractical natures. A ,wnward, drooping tongue belongs one born to poverty and a ready e for the hopeless side of things, he cruel tongue flattens and oadens when extended. The do- cate-speaking organ with curled - edges is the property of an into: native and artistic being. When e longue issues forth as if grip- e in a dental vice it signifies a ve of life more than ordinary, t t fi w T 1 a w a a d T t tl e t• b t b b of b S H 1' a sc ac T st in c in do to ey T br If 111 gi th pe to And yet it should be easier to :tell the truth than to manufacture a'• lis Too many people have to do a thing twice in order to get it done once. It is always easier to secure a synthesis of the cosmos than to be patient with a baby, The horn of a rhinoceros is alit joined to the bons of the head, but grows on the skin. Short ---"If Lon calls with wth abut little bill tell hon I'm out. It Short•- "But that would be telling a falsehood." Short --"Nothing of • Gm kind. I'm eat of ea511,"-