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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1909-11-25, Page 3CONVICTS GOMICALITIES PEC CLIAR 1> RA.NI(S lLL 1.YED PRISONERS, 'Tretiele Trick I'lnyed on the In cert --What Became of the Toba000. Although the "tragedies of lif, •are nowhere more in evidence the in H, M, Convict Prison Servyrc the comic element is by no mean .absent from that famene institnt: tin writes an ex -prisoner in Londe Answers, Never a large eater myself, have often fallen an easy prey t the wiles of the hungry; and tha is saying muelt, for they are ms .and varied. One of my first experiences at eh "slaughter -!louse ' = as Ohathar Prison was formerly t. •find my supper "annexed" by at artful dodge, which, however •could only be played onee on th 541110 person. .. I U0' 11 1 0 a m 0 0 THE TREACLE .TRICK. On the night of my arrival there and when the .supper, consisting al eight ounces of bread and a bin of .gruel, had jusb been served, and the cell -door locked, an enterprising son of Adarn barna along, and, tap- ping at the doorfrom the outside, exclaimed: "ti'ut your bread out for treacle 1" In the innocence of my heart, and not knowing what the dietary scale there might not include, I thrust my loaf through the aperture at the bottom of the cell -door. This was used in those days for taking the roll at meal times by each pri- soner putting his "broom" out, so that it might be seen whether the cell was occupied. Of course,- the inevitable happen- ed The loaf was captured, the "treacle" idea being only the bait of the captor! A few nights later I heard a per- sistent scratching on the corrugat- ed iron partition which divided one cell from another, Following the sound, a faint whisper became an- dible, and I soon found that my next-door neighbor had bored a hole in .the iron, through which he poured his troubles into my ear. After a, few.proliminaries, Flearn- ed that my'friend was a Frenchman under a ten years' sentence for fraud. He could command money ad lib., and had one of the war- ders inis. h pay—a common thing is those days But, somehow, he was constant- ly getting into trouble, and was al- ways hungry as a consequence. To ensure a supply of "tominy," he had just got smuggled in half a pound of tobacco—always a saleable commodity in duress. WEED AND WATER. Fearing itsdiscovery if he kept it in his cell, he wanted, . above all thing% to have it safely warehous- ed Would I take• charge of HI I could use as much. as I liked, but must let him have some when he needed it to buy "grub" with 1 I readily. agreed, and, by a con- certedmovement, the bundle of "tabac" was passed under his door, and reached mine in safety. .Being more venturesome in those days than I'am now, -I next morning eucceeded in carrying out the preci- ous weed to my work—I was then stone-breaking—and, digging a hole near my slab, buried it for . the nonce. Aback, alack! That very night a. terrific storm broke over Chatham. The wind blew, the rain fell, and— Well, my poor friend's "tabac" was literally washed out, and when we arrived next morning the shreds were gracefully floating on the sur- face of a vast pooh I fully expected to get a wigging from my Gallic neighbor; but, lo! on returning to my den,.I found a "search party" in possession, and learned that he had been run into "ehokee"—the prison inferno -- for having a scrap of lead -pencil in his possession ; an "offence" for which he underwent seven days' bread -and -water diet, I regret having to state that, within a month from that date, my poor friend again got into the hands of the "Philistines"—as he called the warders—for "traffick- ing" with an • OFFICIAL OF` THE PRISON. The latter—who -was, of course the greater "loser by this illigit transaction -was at first suspended, and ultimately dismissed front the Service; while monsieur was sen- tenced to twenty-one days' bread - and -waster diob—the kind of pun- ishment he most abhorred, for he was, I must confess, •a bit of a gourmand and dearly Moved, to pamper "little Mary," It may appeatsinoredible to some, bat it is a fact that, while under- going the punishment, this 'hapless man not only gnawed some of the cell furniture, but actually devour- ed the upper -leather of his slippers! This feat was the outcome of ne- cessity; but another prisoner per feat from choice, The latter cele- brity, had a penchant for thawing paper, Ho preferred it, apparently, cr any other form of sustenance, and ib was a mattes' of wonder to those who knew his failing where all this paper came from, for he was eternally chewing, A complaint having been made to the chaplain that many library Woke were sadly deficient of leaves, a general examination of all prix- oners' books was ordered, and ib was then found that no less than 10 pages were hissing from this mans Bible, prayer, and hymn book. But this was not all, He, h during hie imprisonment, race' w large number of letters from friends outside—1 believe the n ber was thirty -sig. -but when sea was made for those letters not o was to be found! - The fellow h eaten up his correspondence CHINESE WOMEN'S RUTIN First Political Meeting Evcr1 Held China for Womble, Some' months ago. in Canton th was actually an enormous m meeting which consisted entirely women -10,000 of them—who wish to demonstrate their approval Um Japanese boycott. The p1 form and hall were decorated w banners and flags, and bands pl ecl at intervals during the prooee rugs. Everything at the meati ad, ryes his llm- rah ne ad IU ere ass of ed of at- ith ay - d• ng was done by women. 14liss Pun itut Tang, who presided, amide a stir- ring patriotic speeoh, calling upon the Chinese women to support the policy of their country's ministers. She concluded with the following words: "It rests with us to con- tribute our portion of patriotism and loyalty to our country and em- peror. I say women never lack g such patriotism, and : I call upon you, one and all, to show that China can rely on us whenever there is a a call."This was the first politi- 'br cal meeting ever held in China by women, and there is no doubt that p it inaugurated a new era, the pro- i gress of which their western sisters will watch with interest. :. BiU(IJ1'1.' �t.NJ) BRIEF. Interesting Bits of Knowledge .bout 'short Every'thlug, Burial in Westminster Abbey costs at least X90,• Caruso reooivos 82,000 a night for grand opera in New York, London smesesse5 aver one-sev- enth of the paupers in Bugiend and Wales, Fire insurance policies in the United Kingdom last year cost $180,000,000. Over 47,000 lives have been saved by the Royal National Lifeboat In- stitution, Nearly 1,590;000. law cases were fought out in the various English courts last year, Austria proposes taxing baehe,• lois and widows and married peo- ple without children. A Japanese bride gives her wed- ding presents to her parents' as a slight recompense for their trouble in rearing her. The crystal palace, London, ac- commodates more people than any other building in the world. It will hold 100,000 persons. After long search a will in which Mr, Patrick Monahan, of Boston, disposed of $300,000 has been found fastened to the bottom of a washtub, Fifty thousand tons of soot are taken from London chimneys in a year. It is estimated to 'be worth 8200,000 and is used as a fertilizer, half a ton to an acre. There are about 9,500,000 tele- phones in the world. Of these Eu- rope has 2,400,000, and America 6, 00,000. Dreadnoughts must have a mini- mum displacement of 17,000 tons, nd a • minimum armament of 'ton 'g guns. The London Police Force eom- rises 5 chief -constables, 32 super- ntendents, 563 inspectors, 2,342•ser- g°ants,. and 15,132 constables. Egypt is the onlycountry in the world where :there are more men than women. The male sex in the dominions of the Khedive exceeds the female by 160,000. What is regarded as the world's hearing record ha,s been establish - IF YOU CAN SPELL. Try Your Pen. Pencil or Tongue'on Some of These Words. Ask somebody to dictate the fol- s lowing jumble to you and see how S many mistakes you make. "He rode . a palfrey stallion and h e carried a. salable•papier-mache bou- quet h of asters; phlox, mullein, b chrysanthemums, rhododendrons, fuchsias and nasturtiums. I st He wore a sibyl's . resplendent ' aO turquoise paraphernalia, an orm- olu yashmak and astrakhan ehapere- I fi jos. He drank crystallisable and I disagreeable curaocoa juleps,lit through a sieve,' He stole some se moneys and hid then! under a ped- spar s mahogany tress. bedstead and mat u Like a fiend in my ecstasy of gar- COe oty,-I rushed after him into the. P maelstrom, or melee, and held him n as in a vise. I could not freeze nt him, however, and he addressed ane, no with autocracy, in the following im-00 becile words which sounde3'like a da soliloquy or a superseding paean or of an oboe: You are a ratable tuna - moth; a salaaming vizier ;.an equi- to ,noctial coryphee and an isosceles da guerrotype."—The Bookman. th foi ed by nine men on Hawkes Bay ed- ine Ing Ive 080 ms, 000 tie: in ver. ent I A.0- ety, ar- he p- al and nt is - and d, ed or tation, Australia. .They succe d in shearing 2,394 sheep in n ours. A. block of flats which is be uilt: ,in New York will be twe oreys high, will contain 2, ems, including 443 bathroo and will house a population of 2, When pursued, the sepia cut sh pours out a brown inky fluid arge, quantities in order to co s flight. From this the pignl pia is obtained. A notorious American burglar ritten a' book on burgling. tiding to him, courage, sobrie and, above all, e estness, should form part of t odern burglar's equipment. The most important' duty of Ja ese' parents is' to find matriinoni mpanions for.' their sons righters, and the non-fulfilme this duty' is' regarded as a d ace both to the young yoeple the parents. The largest dredger in the worl e Leviat11an, recently launch r the Mersey Docks and Harb ard, is 487 feet long, 69 feet bad, and 30 feet7 inches deep. r pumps are capable of dredging 000 tons of sand into her bunkers 50 minutes . from the : maximum th of 70 feet, and she can carry se 10,000 tons out to sea at a ed of ten knots, wealthy resident; of Moscow owns the smallest watch in th world. which once belonged to th last Empress of Brazil. It wa made in Geneva by the famon watchmaker, W. Zogelin, and. co over 825,000. It has a diameter o one-fifth part of an inch, and is se in an artistically worked finger-rin which is studded with diamonds. I the watch is taken out of its ring - case it can be set in the mouth of a cigarette -holder. Zogelin is said to have worked three. years 01•1 it, and permanently weakened his eye- sight in the task. VILLAGEitS Freacr, Bo Old Feud Leads to Three Men Billed br and Thirty Injured. He se, Reports have been received at i1 Lisbon, Portugal, of a great fight dep between the inhabitants of the Vil- the lages of Malaya and Fovea. spe For years a feud has existed be- A tween them, and by mutual agree- ment the inhabitants met in a large field to settle their grievances. Each side mustered a hundred fight- ers, most of them being armed with fowling pieces, revolvers, knives and sticks. After discharging the guns. and nd revolvers -into each other a hand-to-hand conflict took place, the knives being handled with dead- ly effect, . • The authorities at Fro thechief town of the district, were informed and sent a strong force of cavalry; on the appearance of which the fighters fled. Though only three men were killed, 30 were wounded, several dangerously, • Tho authorities aro investigating the affair to discover the principal parties. Numerous arrests have al- ready been made. CHARMING AWAY TIGERS. No woodcutter will go about his task in the Inclien forests unless he is accompanied by a" fakir, who is stipposed-to exercise ,power'' ove,' tigers and wild animals generally, says the Calcutta Statesman. Be- fore work is rmu,nenced the fakir assembles all the members of his party in a clearance at the edge ',f the‘forest and erects a number of hubs, in which he places imagee certain deities. After offeruigs. have been panesented to the images the particular forest is declared to bs free of tigers, and the wood,tlt- tors, in, virtue of the presents tlihy. have made to the deities, are sup. posed Ic be tinder their special pee. Motion. If after all these precau• Genesi, tiger seizes one of the paY'1y •`PI the fakir speedily tabes his doper sir," tun! without waiting to offer so. to .th perfluous explanations, , what CAKE OF RUBBER FOOTWEAR, 011, Sunlight and Beat ' Aro All Ilarinrlilr Soine valuable suggestions are contained in a circular issued by a rubber footwear producing firm. 1. Importance of Sitting rubbers properly, However good the qual- ity or perfect the style rubber shoes will not give satisfactory service if they are not properly fitted to the leather shoos over which they are. intended to be worn. Neither can rubber i ber boots or lumbermen's shoes be expeoted to wear well if they are not properly fitted. Always fit boobs as small as they can be 'worn with comfort. It is impassible .to make a boot that will not break in the foot if it is worn too large. Fit them small and thus avoid wrinkles and insure good service. 2, Grease and -oil are very injuri- ous. Do not allow grease, oil' or animal fat to come in contact with rubber goods, as it will speedily de- compose the best rubber that earn be produced. Even milk contains enough grease to injure rubber beats and shoes. • 3. Strong sunlight is injurious. Rubber boots and shoes when not being worn should always be kept away from the air as much as pos sible and in a cool dark place, as strog sunlight and hot, dry air will soon cause even the bestrubber to oxidize and oracle, especially where it is wrinkled or the outside surface 0c the rubber is under a constant strain. • 4. Heat is fatal. Remember that heat unbearable to the hand is more than enough to destroy the value and wearing qualities of good rub- ber boots and shoes, When you warm your feet before the fire or, radiator with your rubbers 0», by the time you feel the warmth the rubbers are usually cooked to. death, 5. Rubber tears easily. This is true of cloth, paper and various other things, but few goods besides rubber ' have such great tensile strength and yet will tear .so easily after a rent is once made. A PERSONAL EXAMINATION. Rind -hearted Professor Showed Unusual Taet. Prof. D'Atcy Thompson, the ex- pert sent some years ago by Eng- land to investigate the seal ques- tion, was a gentleman of tact and 'courtesy, a fact the following anec- dote illustrates, While conducting examinations at an English univer- sity he •learned that one of the stu- dents to be examined, , a y*bung. woman who wi as a candidate for a degree, was so timid and nervous that it was likely she would not do herself justice in the examination, and he was asked to'make allow- ances for this. Professor Thompson asked to be presented to her before the hour for the examinations, and after meeting her, suggested that as they had a 'few: moments at their disposal, he w ourd be pleased to have her show hip} about the museum, ' She gladly agreed, and they spent a delightful half-hour ; but when the dreaded time approached, the nerv- ousness of the young woman became a•Pparent, - Fually she sununoned courage to ask when the ordeal would take place. The conclusion of the story is obvious — Professor Thompson told her the dreaded hour was over. While they sauntered about the museum he had put her through a e rigid examination, She had an- e swerecl his questions brilliantly, and s she received her degree. s This illustrates the truth that ss personal examinations are the best f test of knowledge. t-.1.-— g VANITY WAS COSTLY, f Vanity is often costly. The Duo- IT HAD NOT HUItT REM. An English coachman; 'lone of the olden time," is likely to be an ori- ginal character.- The late Arei1- bishop Tait was driven by. one of whom Doctor Benson used to 'tell 11 is good story :,• One day a clergyman who called at the palace asked him whether he still had as much to do as ever, The answer was sublime "There's always a goodish bit do- ing, sir; but it has been a trifle easier since we took young Mr. Parry into the business.", The 11t, Bev. ...Edward Parry had theu recently been appointed Bishop, Suffragan of Dover. Another story he used to tell of a coachman will be new to many. A gentleman living in the neigh- borhood of Addington, ,lading that the stablemen were not in the ha- bit of attending church, spoke to 1.is coachman about it. "They ought to go," he said. pat's just what I pay + myself, was the .rejoinder. I says om, 'Look at me, I go, and harm does it do to we'll' " FROM DQNNIE SCOTLAND NOTES OF INTEREST FIRODI UBR 'IiA.N'l S AND BRAE'S. What Is Going On la the lliglrlaudis and Lowlands of Auld Sootsa, There aro 20,553 dwelling ]louses in Govan, and of these 2,175 are empty. Over 2,900- women took part in a demonstration fur women sutfrag in Edinburgh, Tho population of Gowan .0» June 181; was 90,021, against 92,171 on the same date last year. Great distress is being experienc- ed by the poor of Greenock on ac- count of trade depression. Alex Stewart, •of the Aberdeen trawled Bedouin, was recently blown overboard at sea and drowned, A Mauritius penny stamp -of 1848 with a vermillion complexion was sold in Edinburgh recently fpr 939. The Ardrossan School Board have decided to discontinue the holiday to the children known as "Black- berry Day," Montrose suspensicm. bridge, one of the oldest and finest structures of, tho kind, is to undergu an ex- tensive overhaul.. A Banff steam drifter landed at Grimsby a herring with two heads, each fully formed and with double sets of fins. In some of the parts in which the grouse have been a failure, a good deal of it is due to the bad condi- tion of the heather. Warrants to erect new buildings to the value of 895,000 were grant- ed at Rothesay last year, against 944,575 the previous year. Dundee Town Council is consid- ering a scheme for including inthecity Broughty Ferry, West Ferry, Barnhill and Monifieth. Ex -Provost Caird is retiring from Partick Town Council after 27 years' service, and ex -Bailie Stra- chan,after 21 years' service. Dumfries Town Council have au- thorized an expenditure of about 91,250 to complete the work of re- pair on the Midsteeple buildings. Recently 31'm. Wylie, slater, Air- drie, was killed by being blown from the top of a house. He was formerly the firemastcr of . the burgh. A new Home for Women under! the Church of Scotland Social Work scheme was opened recently in Uddin st on by Lord Dundonald. Wald. Two lads tried to drive a pony and grocer's van across the Clyde at Bogle's Hole Ford, Carmyle, and were carried away and drowned. Two crops of potatoes have been secured on the same ground this year at Ann's Lodge, Ardrossan. The second crop is of good quality. 'Michael Gilligan, vanman, Edin- gh, has got GO' clays for stealing milk he was employed to deliv- bur the er. Be stole from 9;to 27 'gallons a day., A few clays ago over 3,000 tone e° «•hinstone rock were dislodged by a big blast' at the whinstone quarry known as- Thurshbnslr, near Air. drie, Recently there .Ives found a fine specimen of a dint arrow -head on the battlefield of Druinlsith, on the, Skibo estate, and presented to Mis tl UNCLi1 HIIIA•Ai,T'0 'il1S NEVIU1W Ilow Ilia flan i,e Oorl.oiu of Gaalµ a, Square Deal, "If we fail, Henry:" said Uncle Hiram to hie Hopeful young nephew, "you may be sure that we owe it itis a rule not to our limitations or to lack of opportunities but to OW lack of thoroughness, to our not using the talents we have to the best advantage. It is an. old, t'lcl story, Henry, but however old: a story may be it still remains new to those who hear it for the firs') time; and are not new hearers coming into hearing all the time, to whom everything, the whole world, i$ new 1 Now let me say this say again for ,vour benefit. - "When I see the window cleaner failing to get down into . the corn- ers to dig out there, failing to make a perfect job of his work, 1 know not only that he lacks. inspiration, I know that he leeks the two simple • essentials of application and thor- oughness; he lacks the two elemen- tary requirements for getting on in the world at all. As be grows old- er he will wonder why he doesn't get, ahead faster, and when dull lanes come he willwonder why he 1. aid off while other men are kept at work; and then; unless happily fig's should come to frim, he'll get sour and discontented and in his own way cynical ; he'll think that e, cry tiling in the order of things is wrong, that he isn't getting a fair deal, when the fact is that every man is his own dealer. "As it is about the window clean- er so it is with every one of us in. whatever we may have to do. We all of us think we can do big things when, as we say, 'we get a chance' ; but the truth is that unless we can do a little thing well we can't do a big thing well and we never get a chance. Big things are made up of little things. If a manor a boy couldn't sweep a sidewalk clean no- body would think of hiring him to clean a nits. "Don't think you've got a mean job and slight it till you can get something better : no matter what your work mayb.., magnify it and dig'lify' it by apnlicatien and thor- oughness: It is the only wav to get on, and in that way you'll he sure to get on. There's'nnthing the mat- ter with the deal, Henry. Every man can have a square deal if he wants it hard enough, .for every man can deal for himself if he will." ELEVEN DAYS IN THE BUSH. A Tr'aveller's Expe- r- ience in North Queensland. Mr, W. D. Piteairn, in his "Two Years Among the Savages of New Oninea," relates an adventure which befell a friend of his, Bob Sanderson, in north Queensland. This friend, who was a man of good education and an experienced bush- man, was on an expedition in search of new country adapted tc stock raising. Be had with him a party of men with tents and all necessary provisions for the journey. After travelling about four hun- dred miles they found a good-look- ing country, and pitched their camp. lir. Sanderson wandered some distance from his party, and on returning, found the place de- serted. His followers had struck lair tents and made off. He was four hundred miles from civilization, alone in the pathless bush, the home of wild and treach- r0us blacks, without a morsel of rod, and with no weapon but a re- plver, There was nothing for it but to face the inevitable., and he started on his long journey. Day' after day he plodded wearily along, without any covering at gbt except the trees, finding here cl there a few berries, and often ift'ering horribly from hunger and first, One morning at sunrise he wase scending a slope, when to his clis- ay, about :fifty yards below' him, saw a large camp of blacks. One them had just risen, and was retching himself directly in the e of the white man. This was a moment to test the uff of a man already reduced hY n•s of enntinuons tramping• and rvatiou, But ;Sanderson diel not. itate. With piercing shouts be hod down anon the camp, firing. revolver as he rash he blacks took it for granted at he find a lan'gc 'foyer. 1,1 his 0, and immediately broke in fusion and fled across the river. 1 c1' several days longer the man ugglcd on. Then on the eleventh he sank to the ground, quire Carnegie at Skibo Castle. 'Sir George Anderson, treasmrr of the Bank of Scotland, and a na- tive of Fraserburgh,. is to give a 'e gold medal to the new academy. to f,. v be awarded each year to the clex of the school. ROW ROYAL LADIES PROPOSE. The Future Consort is Relieved of el Taking 111e Initiative. an Sl th When a reigning queen is to be married she must broach the sub- ject first to her future consort. Tlie same rule holds gond with regard. nos Ayres Herald tells of a recent to all royal ladies who marry coin - instance wherein it not only cost lnoners. the vain person some gold, brit al- Queen Victoria has told how she a managed to "put the question" to Prince Albert—how she -first showed So. much trouble. This elan was < jeweller, and the one responsible for his trouble was•a clever rogue. The latter, dressed in priestly garb, visited the jeweller's shop and ask- ed to see some gold ornaments which the self-styled priest said he wanted to give as a present to' Archbishop Romero, together nvith the robe contained in a parcel that he carried, The shopkeeper show- ed ninth intel'est in the latter, and. the owner opened it, revealing an elaborate robe. The visitor suggest. ed that the jeweller go to the rear of the shop and try it on. He quick- ly . accepted the invitation, incl iss soon as he turned his 'back the bo- gus priest swept up all the trin- kets in sight and ran. The shop keeper pursued hint; shouting 'Thief!" The police, seeing the excited man in the archbishop's robe, arrested hint as a lunatic. Try the time he lead convinced the po- lice of his sanity the thief had tie - caned. The robe, it' was learned, had been stolen from the, p roiicrty robin of a theatre,.. as worn the. priestly clothes ixf the clover thief, Itow many a know— including y.peopl0 clo yon ltuow-•- Xng y ourself—who would cause their neighbors to shec1 tears it :they lnoved.away1 him 1lincisor and its beauties and the distant landscape and then said: ''All this may be. yours.'' The sta de 111 he of st fae st da Queen of Holland, on a lilac occa- lies sion, simply sent a sprig of white heather, begging Prince Henry to, i its look out its meaning in a book of hiT flowers and their meanings The ill Duchess of Argyll took the follow- .bac ing means of is -reposing to tlio Mar- con alms of Lorne : She was about to attend a state ball and gave it out sir that she would choose 48 her part- day nor for the first dance the mare she intended to honor. She selected the Marquis, who subsequently became` her husband, lint perhaps the most interest- ing' of ail ways, chosen was thatof the Duchess of Fife. She took the Earl, as ho then was, to a, drawer and showed ;him its contents. There 11r, saw a number of trines he had 9ivell '1ler at r different tithes, in - eluding sprigs of scvcrai' kinds of flowers, now dead, he picked for her at different times, fie was much ilnpressecl at the sight, nor did' it require words on her part t0 make her meaning' plain, Only a little over ono acre In hunched 1n Ireland is 'under tim- ber cultivation. unable to go farther. Hanpils- he was 110)1 near a cattle -station, and a stockman who 11110 out riding stembled upon hien, He was taken into the house and every attention was bestowed epee him, and even- tually he recovered his heall:li and strength. • For every -tree ctrl; clown in Nor- way thee& saliegs must bo piste Led. Soldiers mounted on oxen are to be found on the East Coast of Af- rica. A. big Atlantic liner contains at least 1,000 tons of piping of vont- ous kinds, TREATED DIRDS CRUELLY A. PIAN GETS THREE MONTHS IN .,IFIL FOR I7.`. owar'dly Brute Sentenced in Lou. don for Blinding Birds— Breed of It. A terrible story of systernatief cruelty to birds was told et the Lambeth. Police Court recently, when Mr, Hopkins sentenced • an aged laborer .named Frederick Col Tins to three months' imprisonment with hard uabor for blinding chef, finches, Mr. S, G. Polhill, who prosecuted on behalf of the Royal Soeioty for the Prevention of Cruelty to Anis mals, said there was a practice in some parts' of London of 'catchieg wild birds and blinding them by ins sorting a needle in the corner of the eye and destroying the optic nerve. "The motive," he said, tis to make them sing . better, and the birds are entered for singing com- petitions, This has been, going on for a great number of years, and the society has made attempts to secure a eoevietion atvarious times but in consequence of the • GREAT SECRECY OBSERVED b3 these men it has hitherto been difficult to enter the rooms where. the birds are kept. "Great skill is shown in blinding the birds, which recover after a time. and adapt themselves to their blind state in a wonderful way. It is, nevertheless, an extremely cruel action.'' Inspector Arthur Wilmot, of the society, told how IN secured the necessary evidence by posing as a man who wanted to buy birds. Ho was introduced to Collins by a man named John Boswell, and all three went to Collins' house in Sultan street, Lambeth, "A room on the firstfloor was practically full of birds," said the inspector. "Collins showed me sev- eral chaffinches all of which were blind. "He drew my attention to two birds, saying. "This one I caught' at Croydon, and the other just out- side Orpington. I put • them through it -right out,' "I said to him,. °What do you mean by right out 4'. Collins replied, 'Blinding, but it is A DANGEROUS WORD to use.. If I was given away' it would mean three months. I play- ed the game on then about Nab Friday week, and this one is just getting over it.' "I silted z ' F the birds were really blind, and Collins replied, 'Yes, L Slid it myself, I have been at the game twenty years.' ' There were at least eight other blind chaffinches in cages." The inspector bought two chaf- finches, and all three men after- wards fterwards entered a public house. "I noticed that Collins drank cider," the inspector continued, "so I remarked that he was a tee- totaler. Collins replied, 'Yes, at my game you have to be, as you want a very steady hand.' " A veterinary surgeon said the op- eration would cause acute suffering, and the pain would last for some days. SENTENCE SERMONS. Most of our cares are cured by care for others. Great charaoters spline out through small crevices. Life is never healthier for taking religion as a pill. Only a dead faith can be separ- ated from living morals. People who give sunshine never have to beg sympathy. Life would leave us all fools bub ft r• the lessons of affliction. Pessimism is usually another name for habitual introspection. No man is fit for another world elm is not efficient in this one. A man never implores his charac- ter by posing for a roputation. Man rises above the boast as he surnionnts the instinct of selfisli nese, There is a world of difference be- tween self -reverence and self -actor ation. The sting of a sorrow lasts only as long as we refuse to be sweeten- ed hy- it. A 11yp00ritc is one who wears a saint's uniform without doing a saint's work. Seine mistake a shirking of the duties of this life for a call to the delights of another. Many think that religion ia'a mat- ter of notions or emotions instead of 1110ti511 and notions. Most theological difficulties ere but forms or religious dyspepsia due to eating without working. .Yon cannot tarry the cup cif 10111 fort to another without being blessed by its fragrance yourself. Simply to be just, considerate, and helpful is better than to nu slur all the mctaphysies of this and o11 other worlds, T.'NC'1 t EZTIA SAYS :, "The ratan who is tlllus sarin' he kin take it Or let it alone is genS1g lettin' it alone when he ain't takitt'' it ""