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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1900-3-22, Page 2Et" 741 BRUSSEItS POST, MARCH 22, 1990 Netta lleeraond had beet married about two months, and wee one of the happiest a wives. She sat at the window of the cheerful borne one clay, and saw her husband advaneing up the gravel path dud led to the rose - entwined parole Her bright, blue blue eyes gleamed with affection as elle murmured, in wifely rapture: "Dear, noble Charlie 1 how hand- some he IB 1" Hie beauty was purely a an iraegin- ative type—he was near-sighted, his legs- bowed in a little, and hts free were rather largo; bat to one woman he was a hero without a flaw, ed that one woman was his' we. "Dear fellow, be mast be Ill," she further soliloquized. He hardly ete a mouthful for breakfast. Why, What is Uwe he Is tearing u1—per- haps a bill he doesa't want me to see." Mr Charles Raymond had suddenly taken a folded- paper from his pocket, glanced hurriedly at it, and then Lora it into infinitely small bite, which he threw to the winds, which in their turn deposited them in a vacant piece of ground, in a corner of the front garden. There was a falling barometer in the Raymond farally that day at noon. The social sun massed under a cloud and stayed there. •A gloom permeated the household atmosehere. It ceased intense surprise to Mr. Raymond, for he had come home in utmost jubil- ant spirits. These went down corres- pondingly with the low pressure in the domestic area, and renatiined sta- tionary at freezing point. His wife's spirite registered below zero. A silent meal, a. hurried embrace that was not returned, and the young man hurried out lo keep some import-, ant epee:anent:tent, wondering what had caused the honae weather to change so suddenly. Wine he was out of sight, Mrs. Raymund also left. the house. At the corium of the garden she stopped and, looked cautiously around. "I'll do ie. There's no harm in it, I aw sure. It is my duly to know, as a wife, if Charlie has any bills which are causing lien annoyance. Ile has been economizing lately, now I. come to think ()Cit. J. can help him if he is in trouble, and I will." Then she began searehing over the groune until she bad collected a doz- en or mare small scraps of paper. IA ith the quick intuition of a woman, which is more like instinot than judgment, she saw that these scraps were not the remains of a bill, but of a sheet of notepaper that had been closely writ- ten mer in a hold, masculine hand. Deeming herself on the eve of some distreeeing diselosure, she re-entered the house. Locking herself in her room, Ales Raymoad, seated at her desk with a sheet ot blank paper and a bottle of gum before her, proceeded to restore the paper serape to their relative positions. She worked long and patiently, developing at the same time every emotion in the human heart. Anger, jealousy, indignation, scorn, and a consuming ouriosity by turtle possessed her. At times her lace expressed incredulity, winch was instantly followed by a dreadful cer- tainty. She cried a little, but she was almost too angry for tears. Ohl to have been deceived by one she had loved with her whole heart since she first knew him I And the honey- moon was so recent I Then she re- read the miserable letter. It was written by Charlie's chum, a man she had not yet seen, and who professed to be a woman -hater: "Dear Charlie -1 saw your divinity to -day. Here Mrs. R. wept. She is a beauty, and you're a lucky dog. 'Oh, the wretch P. She looked as lovely as a seraph in her pretty togs, and does your taste credit. There's a few of your old chums who want to know the new beauty. 'Pll scratch her eyes out, the good-for-nothing creature r Do you intend to let your old friends meet her, or do you want to keep bar all to yourself 1 But we'll be on crux good behavior, Cberlie—honor bright, She's a darling, and we want you to trot her out, and give us a regular introduction, and we'll get up a 111- tiesupper some night after the the - "Au actress? Yes, Charlie does ad- mire actresses, and his new divinity is an actress! 0. Charlie, Charlie, you have broken your wife's heart I" After a flood of tears, Mrs. Rey- mond read a few closing; lines which were of no coneequenoe, and the name signed to it, "Reginald Newcombe." Then she took counsel with herself. with the result that she came to a sudden conclusion. •"I'll do it 1 'I'll beard the lion in •his den, the Douglas in his hall,'" The next morning at an early hour Mrs. Raymond dressed herself In her prettiest costume and went out. Reginald Newcombe, a ritsing young lawyer, was in his office, the air of which was thick with tobacoo smoke, wben his thefidential clerk en:lunged in from the outer room. "A lady," he gasped, "dressed to kill! After a divorce, most likely. Where shall I--" But this speech was cut short by the entrance of a beautiful young wo- man, dressed in the height of fashion. The lawyer arose from his desk, and stood up to gaze at the apparition. "Could I speak 10 you a moment in private, sir ?" she asked, smiling reweetlyr • ''Yes, madam; come trito my private ante," he replied pleasantly, while Jia nisi to himself I "Ily Jove! It's Oberlin riaymond's witel Hen I Wonder if she is going to engage me es her lawyer e Be goatee, please," and he dropped into a abed biniself and began to braes up for the °coas- tal). But eerie Raymond did not alt down, Abe' reMained Standing, and etie changed freln arailes to tears, Willett troureeddown bar lovely cheeks. "Read terra ter; 11 is eigned with your lifinier she said, deeperethly. "I doe% know ivaat yoe Mean, my deer madam," said the lawyer, ilia patently. "Is this patohwork dorm- reent--r 'React, read! Avery word. is there. 11 18 a communicative from You to IV blithered, and your name 'methane the internee 1" "loamy 1 Oh, I see I May I ask," stiffening to meet the oharee that be saw was coming, "If Charley—Me. Raymond—gave you (hie leiter to read ?" ''Ob, no, sir 1 He did not betray the cent:Monte ot his noble friend -- certainly not 1 I—I—no matter how I became postieSilet1 Of the latter—there slither be no seerets between husband and wife." "Weal do you %Nish ine to do? Deny or confirm the atitheneicity of these scraps of Pierer 7" "This 1 Tell me the name of his di- vinity—that other womau—the braz- en hussy who has taken my 11—h— eusbund's love from me. Let mesee her, that I may---" 'Murder. herr' Inquired tee lawyer. "No; that. Imay plead to her on my knres to give hira beak to me," ' Madam, you have conquered. I will call at your residence to -night, and; in the presence of your husband, give you the information you have •k I" "Ole thank you, Mr. Newcombe, you have a kind heart, after all. Forgive me for this intrusion, but you do not. know the depth of a wifthe love." "No; thank goodness, I don't," mumbled the bachelor under his breath. Theo aloud he said: "Do not speak of this to your hus- band until I come this evening. Good- bye, Mrs. Raymond," and he politely eerie:mad Ler to the door. When she -was gone he went back to his den, sat down in his chair, and laughed untie his face was purple. "Jealousl" be roared. "The best joke of the season! Jealous of -- Meow! there will soon be fun in Char- lie Raymond's house!" --- Charles Raymond had not. passed one unhappy hour during the blissful two months of his matrimonial career. The sky bird of happiness bad de- scended on his roof -tree and seemed 1.0 make a refuge there. And tow in one brief moment she had opened her winter and soared away. What had frightened her? He did eot know, aiad his heurt was heavy within him. If lIsia was a womaras caprice, then he was learning another phase of his wife's character, sncl one that sorely disturbed him. The chill which bad struck to his heart on the previous day continued with him. It was there when he went home at night, and bar strong indifference the next morning made his heart feel like a lump of lead. He tried to be cheerful, and act as if no- thing had happened. But his wife re- ""tiliga flurhneisiazttts/itetil 1" he asked, anxiously, for he loved her very dearly. You ask me that—you—Charles Raymond, 0e, the wicked duplicity of men!" she said, with withering SeOrn. He went to business with gloomy forebodings, welch remained with him wcee.n he returned home in thel evening. Her reception of him, as het attemeted to kiss ber, on entering the hall, was chilling in the extreme. "Netta," said Charlie, coolly, "I don't know why you are angry; but my conscience is clear. I leave done nothing to deserve this treatment." This he said as they sat down at the supper -table. 'Will you have a abTalaPer food bad just been pearled on the table by a servant. "Chop?" repeated Netta,' in a heart- broken voice. "I suppose a man would eat if the whole house were tumbling about his ears." "We will postpone any further dis- cussion, suggested Charlie quietly, as he did not wish to have domestic afflictione rehearsed before a servant. So they ate in silence, and then went by a common consent that had be- come mechanical, to the library, where they usually had musics and a chat, wino not interrupted by callers. IL appeared they were not to be alone. The bell raug loudly, and a voice was heard inquiring for Mr. and Mrs. Raymond. Charlie jumped to his feet, frowning angrily, "Reggy Newcombe—what brings him here? Netta, I do not. wish you to meet him—I----" "Too late, old fellow," said a reso- lute voice. "I have called to pay ray respects to Mrs. Raymond, and to apologize to you, Charlie, for the let- ter I wrote a couple of days ago con- cerning your excellent wife,, and—" "My vafe did not .see the letter, crr know that it was written," said Char- lie, stiftly. "I had too much respect tor her to tell her that you dared al- lude to her slangily as you would streak of a horse or a dog. ( tore that letter up into scraps, and intended to reprimand you as soon as we met." 'You did, ea Now, ray dear Mrs. Raymo , will you kindly listen to nie a u tuent, as I consider an apo- logy is te in this matter, and]. want you to intercede for me. Charlie doesn't anew what a staid individual I am, but seems to think 1 nm one of the boys, I aseure you that the head and front of my offending is the let- ter in question, ahich he -was 30 dis- creet as to tear up. I had seen hit. wife, end dared, not meaning any die- respeot, to write to him ahd speak of her beauty—pardon me—and refer to her in what I oan see myself was quite too demonstrative a style. But lam a bachelor, with a few oddities that perhaps time and a -tette would make tolerable. If you will forgive me, my dear madam, I promise Lo re- feree," "Then the letter was about me?" begat: Nate, stammering, "Yes, madam," said tbe lawyer, meekly, glancing appealingly at poor Reda. "I was most unprofessionally clieftese'and—pardonmne—raved over yoer beatity and style ia a manner that mighl have tempted your bus - band to call nee out if I had not, been suoli tee old fried. 01 his." "Oh, It's all right dear," said Charlie, el didn't let eyou see the letter, but tore it up as I Cane home." "I saw you," Said NOM, coolly, hut with a radiant facie, "and wondered, whet you were tearing ap so vielous- "Yee Sew met" eehoed Charlie; "thereby.. Image a tale, 1 iniagine 1)11 yoa think 1 had a eeeret froin yon, dearest t" Nelta glaneed eautiously at the fttee of the lawyer. It reassured her, anti she answered without hesitation: "Y0o couldn't have a searat Croni me, Charlie, I shall always trust you. And now perhape your friend would like it little in -ash)," and as her fingers ran over the keys on the piano Nate though serenely; "1 wonder how I could have been se aesurcl as to make myself wretched about that other woroan." THE FARMER. I HINTS FOR TREE SCRAPee.IG. The question is oonstantly arising as to whether trees shank(' be scraped 01 their uglier bark. Thee outer bark is deed tiesue but it iltay 804'We as a pro- tection Le the tree. The features ol thee bar.k are ale° characiteriatic of the • di:Le:rem kinds of trees and contribute no email part to their beauty and in- terest. I ,certainly shoulki never searpe the bark from trees which are grown tor ornament, unless there were some particaler reason for le, writes Pru - !leaser Baibay. Thle particular reasot might cease when there were a serious incursion of soros insect lvhich ands nt heerbu,ur underneath the bark, or when some species of botty-bhght at- tack.; a tree and it is necessaryl t ore - /Love the bark in order to get, at the dieticuey. These are special and comparatively rare eases, however. The general rule is to leave the bark on all ornamental shade tress. To take it ate ttooS no good, and iL robe these of vary much of their characteristic beau- ty. in ease of orchard trees, it Is often advisable to take ofe the hanging bark iu order to deseray Use haruurang places ue cocain -mode and other in- eect.e. Even_ in that cese, 1 seemed. not ',crape auwn to the Ight ouloi•ed or inner bark, but take or., merely the rough, Lease exterior. Orcharot trees, nut being grown for ornament., °den preent a more kempt aact, tidy ap- pearance Le the ol.t bark is removed. is to be remembered that the ideals which und,e.the die care oi iruit trees may not obtain with ornamental trees. L. is often asked what one shall do for "awes" on tress. On old and rough, bark, 1.12038 does no harm, and it meth adds a distinct charm, to shade and arnam,ental trees. 00 young trees or young bark, the mans generally indi- eates lack of vigor and. vitality in the tree. The remedy is to make the tree more rigerows, by tillage, enrich- ing the soil, pruning, spraying, and other means. Taking ofe the moss is Little more Lhan the treatment of a eymptum; yet the mess should be re- moved, for in removing it the bark will be made more tlexiale to allow Ea the expaneicat of the trunk, and the tree—if it is a true. tree ---will have a more tidy appearance. The mOoS may 55 eci aped elf lightly. it is also readily kated by a .epraynng wLtl leor- &elle nelectuae. I believe taut part of the geed 01 eprayiag Les in the soden- in,g of the bark; thee was undoubtedly one value te: the old practice at scrub- bing treee with suap or lye. Stunted treee beoome hide -bound and cannot ewell wi.b. new growth. Any treat- ment which spleens be bark will tend to alleviate thee coneitiun; but other good treatment muse be given at the eame time. DISEASES OF WOOL. Wool. leas Rs diseases as the sheep hats. But the dee:eases of the 'fleece deal nut hurt the shee-p as to its gen- eral health. Heir and weal are pre- etiely ilea Sense in composition and general charaeter, except that hair is emooth and wool is rough Lo the touch. Oae of the diseases of wool causes the fibres to split end tangle together, forming ma•der patches all aver the body. Another earuses the wool to felt, farming petehes of short, hairy - like balls, •which loosen. from the ajcin and leave bare spats, wbech axe red. 'end inflamed. All theee are Mien - thine and the disease well spread from DOS sheep to another, isutil, if neglect- ed, the skin is bare over half the body of the sheep sometimes. A lookout ebeuldt be. kept for these diseases, and itraneetteee treatmerne alien:11d be ap- plied. The easiest remedy is to ap- ply tincture of iodine to the skin, seakin.g the, wool where it is still re- tained. The disease is really in the were, ena not in the skin, but yet the skin may be infected by the diseaeed weol. it is due to a minute fungus waieli grows in the fibres of the fleece. dreetroying the se.bstance at the wool, and reducing it to abort pieces, or even dust, These diseases are vi relent ly intent i rates, e uel. when they appear instant ticnion should be token. -- COWS AND STABLES. One nannor be too careful, in keeping the ereve and endears of daley clean, add therefore eanitary in every re- open. Some mem", like pigs, seem born with a lave fur eilth' and. ethere have a streak of daintiness in them. -melee makes them acv'etd, dirt of all kende. There ie a good deal in train- ing ibe dairy animate to keep deem is very much like bringing a child up in the, right hatbite od cleanliness. ixecomei A Second nature to leita to prefer Mean to dirty pleeee to fie dean in. A lit tle ea re exercised in the Home nay wile young cows will semi make !ham mere careful. They theate line cleanest insteacl of usa carried paten in the wird to met in, The hetet It of the reeve le ennieWhat ei'pttnrirs upon their cleanliness, -re :he skin is nod tea with filth and dirt he a nimal sore to suttee. For a Wear, healthy aotion oe the vital or - Retire eh open akin is eesential. The ae- two 00. th,4 air i h0441011the aniZekil iota . far ereate ea' Ch•an we «upps,ao, Nab, th.4 velao of a bath! 1,1 144 expestire el, the retie tg Oro b.A.ty «01 s tbi.,rI Wasts to the air, U we oLe up elite hetes la Lae Okla 14.11nIb• or eite wa lament nature reent prr..orro,...g her requit.i.e There are "-educe Wba emu., at the Mee ue tar haeatig meth o feat upon the Ineal h re,.. the anetuel, bee the Acta is oementetruele, Not only this, bu, it can be ,,,It..nvo by aetual eeperie mem that the prteat at the COWS is easioeri..1,y o. eetvd by their relative 1Vnen th.„re to a healthy acelan thare L mire to be a want ,(ow Aey.leug tied iniereere,s with dee gest is thee to cheek tite See - 00.111. clean and ,Seit re- specLing ale preeey mire to be in a better phy.leal Gametic:a tu give a Meter yeete tee Lielk and ereaia• bauhary otabk3 are thus mere 05- ceemial ill Miller • 000 in en:Limner. ' eleet Lei us t leek only oe pi:Met:Ling 1110 !atrium], Irene the avid; itul deseese le !11 pri.1110 ft10,Or ill the acilm .1t waiter ILL:a. la we cannot 5.00 the atimal !the beet there ts, htwi wan we expect ID receere ehe beet in 1010501 11 is 'a matter al g.ve and take, and nature makes iew allewarares .or mistakes ur Ignueanee. . BRI fAIN'S NA IIONAL DEBT. -- a, Amounted Ls,lIiirSll to Ab ul $31,o0 ,00*,0 o. Mr. Augustine Birnell, M. P., axle decreeing a meeting at Sheringletra, said just now was a rather gloomy ou.look for the chancellor of the ex- chequer, and the man who could in - veal; a new tax eu•ght to be rewarded, soya the Pall Mall Gazette. The great du.y .1 Lae huuse 0,1 omen:tone was to keep an eye un the tintince3 ea' the eountry, for no eyseene 01: taxaLion tilaS satisfactory unless it was iound- e(1 upcm principlee of justice and equi- ty. Ls for taxation in tee near ru- ture, lie thought there was very ettle (Mob, that next year we hhuuld have L o pay an Meehan tax of at least one shilling 10 the pound. • 1Vith reference le Par. Birrell's pro- phecy it may be pointed out that laet year the revenue derived trom income tax at 81in Ilia ieceuud Mite X12,1,13,3.1., if, thereiore, eaother ed were added, an extra £0,609,00e would. be ',beetled. T•he higheet tax yet Levied was that of the years 1835-e7, w -hen it was 111 -ed en incomes over £.150. Thais- of twines, was neeessiteeted. by the Crime- an war. That ouneteign added 439,- 101,000 to the national debt, wheoh, in March., 1857, amounted to Xiite3,108,L00. Duriag the 'forty-two years thet hare elepeed fence then £203,877,00e has been paiil oft, and on March, 21 last the dee was £835,010,tre5, from which has to be deducted 1116,1174,130 in the form at assets, sucb, as the Suez Canal shaaes and !bank hilanees, This leaves the net liabilleees at £5.8,900,831. The debt was increesed In 18eil by the sum £6,673,1e9, in le98 by £6,64:1,305 in 18,7 by 47,6e0,258, in Rad by 47,1.0,5e2 aad in 18e5 by £8,948,417, Ai the commencement at the Ameri- can lea'r in 1715 the national debt am- ounted to £120,842,e0e, add the annu- al charge Wtke £4,7011,000. The war added £118,20,000 to the debt, wthieb, at the commencement of the French war in 1712, stool. at4239,608,000, Dur- ing that war the emu et £2e7,989,000 was added to. our national indebted- ness, so that when th.e peace of Amelia was signed we owed: .e537,053,000. Than came tire war with Napuleon, which cote•t this country 4323,3813,000, and when pewee wee declared at Paris in 1815 INne were :raddled with a debt of £881,039,049, t,ineotring an annual charge. of £32,645,018. In the ' suc- ceeding forty yeare the debt wets de- creaeed. by 401,930,000, and at the vane mancement of, 155 Crimewn War (o18134 the debt WAS £719,082,849, • THE PRESS CENSOR. nee Receives More Abio,e Than Any Man 10 a Military camp. There is, perhaps, no man connected with the entire army service who re - Mime more abuse, who is MOTs bul- lied and cajoled, or who insists more firmly upon the recognition of his prerogative than the military press censor. His deoisions are laws, and the workings of his blue pencil are as in- fallible. as is the Pope's Iword.. The single reason for the appoint- ment a a military press censor 'with en operating army in the field is to guard against. any information being telegraphed or published anywhere that might prove of the least service to the enemy or in 'any way discon- cert plans of the Genera] commanding. Tied earrespondente in their zeal to furnish deLaile to their 'respective papers might often be guilty at such a military breath if there were no military censors to discriminate is be- yond question, and the /military cen- sor's duty is a useful eneebut he somee times abuses the privileges of his re- sponsible position, or, at all events, appellate to 55 SO Mahe men who breve to put every one of their written re. ports under has eye to be haokee to pievere at his discretion. At least it is not: et pleasant thing, alter a choice dean of newa bas been toiled rtncl folight for, and then set down on paper in what the wieder con- siders his best style to have the most important portions, the parts that took the greatest effort to find out and make up what is the report's real tieWil Willie, bodily liftedout, Or to speak inane literally, erossed throne) With a blue petiole fine writing and all end at a lime wlien, tothe correepond- enter mind, the information could bear, worked 130 poesible harm wha IBOBVet. Them is when the p1e55 eenear finds oat ;just how strong the Briglisli lan- guage is it" expletives. RAD letle,T1011. Mrs, Ben levient—You, don't mean to tell ma that you, were ever a poet? Kt retied Hethe,n—Yes, kind May, un* fortunately 1 Wats, Thit wile where me feel fere went estray, WHERE .THE BATTLE BOO LESS NOISE TITAN IS GENERALLY SUPPOSED. tli10 Vrnelitlig $1111H113 afire rereen etinglis remettne, eau one Cannonading Is (Sy Pia Oritreitliia—Aust reithaill the Mines Line, Hoverer, Arc the 1.140166. ed 0001 Dying Pleading rtir water. .. jullan Balch,' the well-known Am- ericen journalist, who is io South AL - rice as a' \vex correspondent for the London MaLi, bas written an enter- taining desoription of a modern bat- tle for his paper. He says: The pictoree of our battles which are coming beak to us in the London twheleknglair.vs are not at all like the real Art cannot keep pace with the quick advances of science, and the 11- lustrators realize that they must still put as much smoke and confusion in their battles as goes with the old pic- tures of Waterloo. Otberwise thepuee lie would be disappointed and eould ant tell a battle frorn a parade. I saw the other day a picture An one of the leading papers by one of the best illustrators. It showed the British storming a Roar position. In the middle ground wae a Boer battery, and the only gunner left alive was standing up with a bandage around bis bead, while emoke and flame and tieing fragments of sh,ells filled the air in his vicinity. en the rush of the instant he must have been bandag- ed by the saute shot that struck him, and as for the smoke and debris in the air, there was nvore a this in a corner of that pica:are than 1 'nave Iseoulaengita. all the tour battles we have What is a modern battle—how does it look and sound? NO IENCOCEITAIN'EuRzS. AT CLOSE Really, the field operations is so ex- tensive and the range of modern guns is so great that battle conditions have altered until there is no longer any general "clash of battle," or even any possibility of grasping or viewing an engagement from any single puint. There is no great resounding noise in War nowadays. Yora hear one uf our big guns loosed three miles. OVer on the night, and another two miles on the left. •if you. are near one it makes a tremendous nubile. yet limy° net beard one explosion as loud as a good eerong clap of Wunder. You dicier the wane of Lhe enemy cough far in fronl of yete and their sheele burst within your lines wleh a nearer, louder sound—out nut: a really great or deafening noise by any means. Our guns create almost no smoke, though our lyddite eeelts throw up elouds of dust and smoke where they tall, mites away. Becauee the Boers are using old-msluoned powder in their Cannons there is 0. small white etoud wherever one is tired, and a spurt of red sand where their shells dig into the -veldt. The .smeke of war, therefore, and the so-called "roar of battle" are both alike—occasional, scattered, inconsid- oraule. T.herifle firing has been the prin- cipal features of our battles. It sounds, as I wrote once before, like the grying of fat or like ithe eraoking and snapping of green wood in a bon- fire, lf you are within two miles of the front you are apt to be under fire, und, then you hear the moth: of the individual ballade Their song is like the note of a mosquito. " Z -z -z -e - z " they go mar your heed ; " z -z -z -z -p they einish as they bury themselves in the ground. This is a sound only to be beard when the bullet's are very dose. You Nick up your heels and run a hundred or even fifty yarde, and youi hear nothing but the gen- era] Grackle of rifle fire in and before the trenches. THE HU:RTLING OF SHELLS. Tele "Pute-putt," of ViekerseNor- dentine, gun is able to interest you at a distance of three miles. Its ex- plosions are best deseribed by the niekname given to the gun by one re- ginient: "Tthe blooming door -knock- er 1" Its ballets or shells are as big as tele bewl of a large briar -root pipe, and they tear and slit Um air, with a terrible sound, exploding when they strike. The firing of the gun was heard all over the largest of our battle fields, and the explosions of the shells sound a long way because they are apt to take place cm the quiet out- er edge at the field. The whizz that even these missiles make 011 flying, hwoever, is likc the whispered answers of aneinid in love, only to be heard by the favoured individual cvhe ts es- peeially eddreesed.. In a word, there is not much noise in modern battles. These individual sounds oi which I :meek are not loud enough to blend. The crowning, all- perv'adisig noiseet are theme of the guns and oe the rifle fire, and on the vast veldt, spread over a double line of five to seven miles in length, only those that are very near are very boud. The scene of battle—the generel view—is exceedingly orderly. There may be a scrimmage where a eompany or two are stunning a kopje, but level your ghass on sea a hill, and what do you see—e fringe of tiny jets of fire from the top where the Boerne ore, end a. lot of our men in khalci riaing and reclining, and oconsionally firing as thy make their way 'upward. 1VIETHOTJTCAT, AS A CHESS BOARD. The great general view la of an ar- rangement: ne metemeacal as a ehess- board. There are several battalions flat an their faces in two or three long lines. Over there is a battery in per- fect order with its limber of horses at rest near by. Another battery, equally Well arranged, as If to have ite photograph taken is to be 110011 10 the Inieldle field; a third Ls on the farther side. The novelty iS sweeping across Lhe veldt in perfect rack and alignment. There la no thaw:jolt any- where, Nothing le helter-skelter, remember only two momentary die- turbances of the discipline of whirl: speak. One Was in the afternoon daring the Meader river fight when breve band of =Muted DOOM made a flenk colovement on our extreme right end fired a V01107 at our Im- mense mass of transport and °mho- lairce warrens, water (Arta 34.4d nmaaiu nition wagon% The drivers were tak. on by enquire) and fell to lashing their mule teams and horses, the ma- jority to the acoorepaniment of high- keyed TCaffir yells, The rout onlY Intel five minutes Or less, and was funny beyond descriplame, becalm the leading melee elimbed over the "wheel- ers," and the faster the bullets fell the louder the Kaffir yelled,,and the more they plied their enormous whlea. The bravery of our stretcher bear- ers is as much beyond question as a ,le 'beyond praise. When all oe us lea - or and Immediate hi,storians a the mement have- told of the valor of all the Generals, Colonels, Majers, Cap- tains and " Tummies" of the annY, we shall sail have, in common justico, Lo describe how the chaplains, doctors and etretcher bearers go in and out of the most hellish fire, not once or twice, but all through every battle. • It Is just Without the range lof etre that you eee and realize the horrors of war. 11 18 there thatj the wound- ed oral and stagger by you; it is there that spend their final output of 'merge and fall dawn to lie until assistance comes; it is there that you see the stretchers, laden with their mangled freight, and the sound ones bearing the wounded on their batiks and in the areas. Better yet—if so theerful a phrase is permissible in each a case—to know the brutality and Woe of war, happen upon•a kopje that has just been stormed, or a trench that has been carried. Go to swell a place to -day. 20 centuries after Christ mina vvith Hie message of peace on earth and good will to men, end be- hold what you shall see. a"Here,"‘p1a place—a ht ka watallBa tPahmelO in ea —"snap this scene. Look at the wounded all over the ground. Quielcl Out with your camera." "Oh I ain't. I" he said, "It's too hor- rible 1" "Ayr pupb1leirew,"anItssoald, "but it's wh.to th You read, in the writings of those who know nothing of war, about the writhing af th& wounded and the groaning on the battle field. There Is no writhieg and the groans arti feav• and faint. There was one roan ev.ho tvatl simply chewed up by a shell at Magerefontein, and his sufferings meet have been mettle He kept cry- ing, "Doctor, can't you do anything?" Another begged to be killed, and tee first wounded man I saw in this war kept saying, in ever se low a voice; "Oh, dear, dear, dear! Oh, dear, dear, dear!" But there Le Mirth less groan- ing than you would imagine—very lit- tle, in fact. Two things are so eore- m,on with the wounded ae to be 0.1. - meet lace rules oe behateor. EltoOW,ileIeTixatELF,:Le: TO BE WOUNDED. First, they all beg for water, it used. that they asked for on Turkesh side in the last war in Europe, and next they eeem always to Le made gentle by their wounds. Men bf the roughest speech, profane by second nature, cease to offend whet stricken dorwn. "Well, mute," says one, w,hose leg is shattered, "you never know when your turn will come, do you?" And another simply cries, "Oh, dear 1" NOW and then you hear, "For !God's sake, get me takeu to an ambulance," but no proianity is intended there. I have had half a dozen tnen describe haw it feele to be wounded. All who had bones sbattered by expanding bullets used nearly tile same language to deer:vibe the sensation. "You feel," they said, "exaetly as if you had reeeived a inewerful shock from. an electric battery, and then oomes a blew as if your foot, or arm, or wbatever part it may be, was crush- ed by a stroke evitli a tremendeus 'mallet." It is math tbe Heine in a lesser degree if a bone is struak'by a Maueer bullet ; but it the enneoth, slen- der, clean little shot merely pierces the flesh a burning or stinging sen- sation is the instantaneous result. "Lying six hours in the broiling sun was pretty bad," said one w•hose arm - bone Mnis 'rausbed ; "but the really awful experience was the jolting orver the reek" when I was eluded aff in the ambulance." A.nother man, an Wig*, waose foot wars meshed by an explosive bullet, said, "Look at my pipe. That's what did to keep from saylag anything." He bed bitten off an inc.]) of the hard- ened rubber mouthpiece. That was be - fere Ms wouna was dressed. The re- lief that is given by the dressing of a Wound must be gigantic., for you hear next to no groans or means af- ter a doctor bits given this first at- tention. MORTAUTY HAS NOT INCREASED In this army of Lord Methuen's the greal majority of the wound -5 have been in the arras and feet, but other points 'about our experiences in war are more remarkable. First, the 'Aeneas of receiving a wound seem not to have greatly increased 'Nein Illeime prevenient in death -dealing imple- ments. There were more than 10 mil- lion shots fired at Modder River, and yet only about 800 men were ate. See - and, the number of bullets that bit wetter bottles, haversacks, ration. Line and axe. sleeves has been astonishing, Third, the damage to life and limb by the ex-cesslve artillery buss been next to nothitg. But Ito return to the field of bat- tle. The armies oppose ono another with orderly masses. The staff offi- cers ride hither and thither. The bat, (eras rumble to and fro at long in- tervals, as they are ordered to Lake their positions, and in the same way the revelry appears% and reappears on the edgee oe the field. The stretcher- bearers bring the wounded out of the sone of danger, and the ambulances roll Op, get their lnetde and roll away again; hil clay continually, res in a etheeless train. Heave privates bring out the wouneed and work their way back 10( 11 fire again, now mining for- ward, now dropping Net upon the veldt. Skulkere work beck to the edge of tbe field in the ea= way—a few only --and tire withered up and sent forward in batebee by the officers vrho Dome upon them. At Idet the elmer of vialory is heard, and the whole army rushes formed, or dark - e080 file upon an uefinirehed fight, and me grope :Mout Lim veldt seek- ing our entntre find the food and drink the1 snost of us have gone without too Mug, • TIE PIOUS BOER, Ite Elletiariii1cii le 11011rr0 mitt Profits Erma U.. The Scotsman 11e1015 the following about ourinin pthaSee a Boer goveene Mont in the 'Transvael. There hail beeo in the eircumstancee a wonder,. ful alnseeoe of open lawlessness and brutal rowdiness from the very early days; but there is a considerable goo. Ilon •which prefer a dishonest living.' I;a .other eountries this oleos of men riot • only worke against solely, Ina also against the government—the two are synonymous, But lo the Trans. avaoiviernameisntthlyntetns, ienithir deireweittlhY.' or, through syndleates, for illegal cor- puses, ge is a very ueeful inan for the detective to work with, when a bogus plot, involving designs by the 13ritish Government, against the in- dependence of the republic, must be devised to seetire European sympathy, The despatches on that eubjeet in Lhe recent Blue Book throw a strong side tight on the administration of law and order in the South A.frican Re- public. It is not irrelevant to add that the Secret Service Fund of the Transvaal is over £120,000, whereas one-quarter of that sum is suffieient for the needs of the British Empire. THE SYNDICATES. :But the elass in question finds its principal scope under syndicates, such as that for the fillet sale of liquor to natives and that for illiot gold buying, under which a oertain pro- porelon of the gold won by the reining companies is etolen. It will be eue- /Wield for the aeresent purpose to give some aecount of the method of work- ing of the first named syndiaate, which is a strong illegal eombination, sulking its roots deal) through the country. Under the statute law there is a total prohibition of sale of drink to the natives, and this affords one more instance of the Transvaal law —goad en intention, but wretchedly and corruptly auministered. The field is a very 111150 008, Lor around :Johan. nesburg there must be le0,00e nativea earning £3 a meth and their keep who are all craving for drink and elle hive lit.It e se tu spend money 011 (iiia syndicate and their thuordin. etas get, chiefly from Portuguese ter. ri:ory, the vilest class of spirits, which they buy at 8 shillings a dozen and retail .0.1. Ot) &beings, leaving a profit oe 52 shillings a dozen. How many dozens are sold can onlybe revealed by tine books of the syndicate; but ae estimate of 10,010 (Meth a month, ox a little' over one bottle per "boy" per month, whioh is not exeessive, judging from the results along the Reef, leaves, after detraining ovez e150,01.0 for expenses of werking, e clear protit of ii...5400 per annum. This aum, of eourse, does not all find Re way int retie peekete of the syndi- cate, tor many Government servants have to be 'squared," and some ot the ilecB516 rofficials of the mining oumpan- , NOT A.BOVE SUSPICION. The drink is surreptitiously sold at the Kaffir eating houses, watch are licensed by a Government Board and hawked by the "Peruvian." Then humble iustrument gels 1150 a month for his services; when he is fined, bis fine is paid, and for the time be is in jail. be draws double salary on re- lease. So crying Is the evil dud it. is ,f °emulated the mines lose 21.1 eer cent. ' of the services of their "boys" whet' they are suffering from their de- bauches. Native labour is scarce, and they must be (paid, housed, fed eind medically attended all the same, ttepresentations on the subjecl are made to the Government in vain. The chiefs et the syndicate are generally known in Johannesburg, but are never interfered with. The dignity of the law is maintained by welching a stray subordinate occasionally. When, however, a very notorious head of this gang is seen on very familiar • terms with leading members of the Government in Pretoria, an ordinary man is apt to draw 1115 own infer- ences, and wonder how far the canker extends. Those are facts, suspected by many and known Lo not a few. A felt and true account. of Transvaal administration front the inside, along with a reliable audit of Government accounts, would be a rude shock to the believer in the simple, pious, un- sophisticated Boer, A. careful search by the enterprising journalist, who exploited the original Tammany will afford plenty oe underial for another version in Pretoria. • THE SOLD1liit'S PAROLE. -- 80 is a Purely Volu.,510 COmpuet tolsok Coatis. 61141 Capitte. Parole, it must be understood, is it parely voluntary compact. The cagier is nal, obliged to ofter to parole hie prisuincr—Lhe prisoner is not obliged and cannot be compelled, to give his parole. If he does sat he will probably be released on pledging his word not to serve during ,the existing war. if he refuses he will rennet -xi +captive un- Lil the war is over or until he can make eis escape. The useut parole pledge extends only to native service, against the enemy. A. prisoner relecteed on parade Is not breaking his contraet if he drills recruits, quells civic CM- MOt10712, or fights other enemies. .A. soldier taken prisoner has no en- thority to pledge himself never to serve against a particular enemy. He rennet throw off thus lightly the duty he owes his sovereign or country, and if 11e. makes ILO pledge it must be confined to a limited lime. Moreover, if a pristher should make n pledgenot approved by his OWn government, he is bound to return and surrender bira- self to the enemy. Be the Brilitteli army a"soldler ran only give his parole through a none- miesioned officer. Even a nonthennis- lathed officer or an officer of inferior reek cannot give parole, either for hiinselt or for his mon, without. ;my - mission 1 rot.i his commanding °Weer. A eeptured primmer •wito has vb.lal- ed his parole May be punished by cleabli,