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The Brussels Post, 1894-3-23, Page 2TEE BIUTSSEL POST. A1tajl 231 1894 TROOBLESOMv LADY. CHAPTER Vl, When the train in which Doctor John Wes returning to Denver suddenly etapped at a place where there . wee only the small brown house of a ewitohman, the (looter. 'pokedout of the window with relief. He thought it very hard that on his first trip aoross the plains in eo many yore there should be only Stupid people in the oar, not congenial soul to talk with and to compare the present times with the old. Doctor Jahn had crossed the plains in an ox•wagon, and he would aohave liked to dilemma that voyage with some pioneer oe newooaner eager to hear about it. He supposed there wee an awideut : there had been two steps already about that hot box. A little crowd passed the window tarrying something—bo could not eee•what, for those standing around. He craned his nook, his professional instincts aroused. A worried -looking woman in the door of the brown house seemed to be denying the sufferer entrance with animated gestures and angry shakes. of her frowzy head, Three white-haired little children hung to her skirts, and she pointed to them in proof of her assertions. Doctor John half rose as the conductor tame in the car. "Is there a doctor here?" the man said, eagerly. "There's a woman very stns; just taken from the day -coach. That hag out there wouldn't hardly give her shelter." "What seems to be the matter ?" asked Doctor John, briskly. The conductor hesitated; "Well, sir, she's a young'wmnau, but I thine she's married." Theladiesin the car took up their books in disgust. An elderly, portly man in ee.front of Doctor John buried himself behind his newspaper : Doctor John knew him to be a physician. "I'm a doctor," said Doctor John, gather- ing up his belongings. "I shall be glad to see what I can do." "You may be detained over a train," f,_hesitated. the official ; "and she's evidently poor,— hasn't any baggage." "I am, fortunately, able to attend to the suffering without having my pay dangled before my eyes to apur me on," growled Doctor John, passing the lady readers with looks of disgust, "Not one of 'em offered even a shawl : and the sick creature I sup- pose is destitute." He pualled through the crowd gathered about the house, and dispersed them with very vigorous English. A pleesant•faced ' young man handed him a roll of bills : "I collected that in our Pullman, We're not all so heartless as you say." "So that's you, Jimmy Watson," smiled the doctor. I ask your pardon; before this I thought you were just a dude. I thall tell your mother there is hope for you." "Thanke," laughed the younger man. " There's twentyfive dollars. I suppose, though, your fees will gobble it all up." "To the last cent, Jimmy: that's why I got off the car." He shut the door smartly in the face of the crowd, and, finding the switchman's wife is the small hall, said, "I suppose you call yourself a Christian woman, ma'am." "There hain't no meetiag•house in this forsaken country not for forty mile, jest plains," she said, sourly, " and, leaving a family of my own, 1 mint obliged, if my man do work on the railroad, to take into any house strangers with complaints as may be catching." t Well, this le, Itake it," grinned the doctor, " to your sex." She smiled a little grimly, and took up her youngest child in a motherly sort of Way that pleased the keen observer. "You've got a kind heart; your tongue runs away with you, that's all. And now do your best with the sink woman. I have plenty of money to pay you." "I—I put her iu my bed," said the woman, shyly"She's a pretty little thin, and is clean out of her Tread, but she hain't no wedding ring." " Well, she is punished now, poor girl, for her share in the wrong -doing, without you and me saying anything." " All aboard 1" sounded outside. As the train rattled away, Doctor John went soft- ly to the little room where the emigrant woman lay unconscious of this world, so nearly on the threshold of the next. In the chill gray early dawn Doctor John came out in the kitchen, where Jonas Macon, the switchman, sat over the fire : he had been forced to sleep in his chair the long night after a day's work. The hos- pitality of the poor often means personal deprivation. le she goin' to live?" asked the man. " I hope so. The baby is a fele boy." " Both on 'em 'better dead, if what wife thinks of her is true," sighed the man. "Aa for the boy, if he must grow up and work as I've done, never gittin' no further, be won't thank you for a.saviu' of him. "Re may turn out a great man some day; and then" said Dr. John, half to him• self,—"she as not a common or uneducated woman, the mother,—he may be the better for the story of his birth, strive to rise had received no answer to hie message sent the day before, and ho surmised that Oliver, with his usual attention to business, had sent a lawyer directly the message was re. oeived. The station was only a night and part of a day's ride from Denver. To hie surprise and dismay, Oliver himself stepped down from the train, turned, and assisted a tall lady to descend, a lady much burdened with parcels and carrying a large basket. There was no chance to speak until the train was gone ; then Miss Patten said, calmly,— Where is she?" The doctor pointed to the house. "I must tell her first," he said, in a whisper : "she is still very weak, and the eurprise might upset her. Whore did you tome from?" ' Boating, I've traced her, but went on to Denver Matta, an' was in Mr. Oliver's office when the telegram come. Him being a lawyer, I persuaded him to come too." While she epoke, the basket in her hand tilted up and down, and a mysterious whine came out of it. Mre. Minny, wide awake, was being entertained by the white•headed trio ; they were discussing whether they would rather have a baby or -a dog to play with ; theydccided in favored the latter, for they had never bad a canine friend, while there was anew baby every year or so. infact, theoldeotgi rl had a care.worn look on account of her duties me nurse. In the door of the house appeared a whate•headed child who called out shrilly,— " Lady wants to know what's squeaking out here." "Says she's going to get up and see, if Doctor A -corns dont come and tell her, ebrieked a se000tl whitehead. Mies Patten opened the basket, and a fluffy mass of disapproval oval boauud out; spunun around, and made a viciou,s Insh at Miss Patten'% ankles, while she stood a statue of plLtl9nt end aranne, ing oat, " mid here's a tittle purse I found " I'm used to it. Ile hates the basket,' in her pocket. I couldn't get it before, she slid, shaking him off. " I can't blame for, to ny as she's been ell clay, she watehe me if I went near her thinge. A shabby little purse, containing only a five.doilar bill and a oard—Oraig Olivet a, with hie oliiuc addrees, " I didn't need this to tell me," acid the tloatola "Silo is a.merried woman all right, Mrs. Macon : her name is Minny de Res- taud, and her people are well. to•do, blow she came herhaven't the fninfest,ld00 she disappeared last fall, and her aunt has searched ell over the country for her. In the morning when bhe deter went to see hia patient' he found her conscious, look• ug with ineffable disdain on the red.faoed bundle baaide her, You're the kind doctor who stayed ori the irate on account of me," she said, faint - 1 You were ever so good, but I'd mush rather have just died, She" (with a weak Mance at Mrs. Macon) " told me about yo".Moot women would be pleased with that uioo libtle baby." "Would they?" indifferently. "It has bleak eyes, and is so ugly, Besides, it hes no sense. My dog knew everything." "Tuts tut!" scolded the doctor: "that is not pretty tall[." "You out like my old -maid aunt. "Weren't your dog's eyes blank too, Mrs. Minny?" "How did you find my name?' she cried piteously. "And you can't call me that for some one I love dearly has that name for me" "You said it while out of your heed," said Doctor John, calmly. Now go to sleep." "But I've got lots of things I must at. tend to about him," looking at the baby curfoualy. "You see, having hint makes me different. I feel I must do things for him I don't want to tell." "To -night will do." "I might die." "You are not in the slightest danger, nor is the.boy; and, though you have had your own way a long time,—possibly too long,— you must mind now." She obediently closed her eyes, and in the late afternoon when Doctor John re- turned greeted him with a radiant smile. "I''m quite sure I am going to die," she said, happily, "and you don't know how glad I am. Now I want you to write out. legally all about the child and me, how I came here. His name is to be Francois— French for Francis, you know—de Restaud, after his grandfather, who is a general in France. Hie father's name is 13enri de Restaud. My name which is fanny as Mi nerve Patten De Restaud, and my old aunt Hannah Patten in New- castle, Maine, has my marriage oar. tificate and all my other papers. She took them away when she visited me up in the valley of the Troublesome. She was afraid my husband might take them from me and say we were not married if he wanted to go back to his people in Paris. 1 never wanted to see any of them ; one member[ of the family was enough" (with the ghost of a smile) ; "but the baby has made me Bee things differently. The family are very rich, and there is only one heir, Henri's older brother's sou. Henri said he was siokly, his mother's family being eonsump• tive, That little boy may grow up a man, and ho would hate me because I had not looked after his interests. Of course it will seem strange to people in France that I was here without anybody, and that is why I want you and the Mations •m witness a legal paper telling all about it." " I have half a mind to send to Denver for a lawyer," said Dootor John. "If the Little boy's claims should ever be disputed, —and they might, you know,—it would be hest to have everything right. Besides, the French people are great for documentary evidence, certificates of births, and such things." I suppose you had better," elle sighed, lying back on her pillow, " but I hate any, more people to know, I've had such a long peaceful time, I am sorry to have to go back to quarrelling." " Mrs. Minny, before you go to sleep I will tell you something, but you must not ask a question, for you have talked enough. I know all about you. I was Craig Oliver's guest last fall, and I have seen and talked to your aunt Hannah : so you need not thiuk me a stranger, but an old friend, eager to servo you." She caught his hand with her frail little one and turned her face a,vay without speaking. He sat by her until she slept,. and he felt, as10liver had done, that she was a woman child, not a woman, and doubly dear by that clinging helplessness. A week had Mrs. Minny been sick at the switchman's house when Doctor John tele- graphed to Oliver to send a lawyer to the station. He also added, " If Hannah Pat- ten is in Denver, send her along." He had telegraphed to Newcastle and found she was notthere. When by special order the train stopped at the lonely brown house, boater John was on the watoh. He went daily to the track for papers, having established coria• munication with different conductors. Ha him• for I've febohpd him clear from BMA[ 111iiowe it's her doe ," Saga she just kn g yelled the third whitehead; and the doc- tor, With various inaneLuokle eMacon entr. the deg to the haulm removed the infant' I for, with a wild bark, Skye' leaped on the bed, kiseed hie ells trees' wee fate, her hands, uttering joyful little barks, and then, remembering curly days, curled khreelf lu a little round head 01, her feet, looking at her with aflf'eetfonto oyes.. " Put the baby down end sus if he'll growl," commanded Mrs. Minny. " You heartless thing 1" (molded Dootor John. hire. Macon gingerly laid the baby on the bed. Skye sat up all interest and amaze- ment, then with depressed demeaner slunk to his feet and scuttled over the side of the bed out of the room. How Mre, Minny laughed 1 Miss Patten heard her. " many long daye since I mild laugh," she said, grimly. ' She is only a child, said Oliver. have Wished he had not come 1 he should a li sent his clerk. " Is Aunt Hannah out there ?" asked Minny, softly. Yes. She brought the dog." „ " Is she very, very angry with me ? piteously. " I did not want to be caught and made to go home, I want to bell her though, if she worried, how sorry I am." "She can dome if you will be quiet and let her do the talking " cautioned Dr. John. " I'll be good, " the answered eagerly. "You. know I do everything you tell me to. W ]tat will elle think of him ? "—with a look of pride at the red -faded bundle. "After that she own never call me frivolous again. Why, she's quite a young thing in expert - mice beside me. Wasn't s -he good to bring my dog?" Aunt Hannah meant to be severe and told, perhaps to speak hermind a libtle ; she had not forgiven the long anxious months ; but the eight of the girl lying there white and frail, the baby in her arms, softened the stern old facie, and with a sob she knelt down and gathered both to her breast. N.ApjaE EIT A,R MAKING, I ci sbath sr r and vrup With gluoeeeaua uti the comond could. p C. • c adpfd lonep o nz byan 'eke Indtuna Un,iurstowl ilia t►poru4lou betroti agi Y P When '1YUant7nrauda wan UleeoAOrnd•-flew the The sugar a4aapn coaxes at a aimo w) WA Article Is Produced Now. (( farmer could not profitably =play his ' l time otherwfso,and taken all m all the enter vaporation of the industry le quite remunerative, flap of the rook or sugar maple for use as en article of diet Inas been practised by dont- gene of the north temperate vont (TO DE OONTINOED.) TRE GREATEST OP 1,'EDine NAL D. ONIliS. Where me irlsnlnals of Briton rudin #ire ampere sent, from tient im- A few weak% ago aoonvtot at Port Blair, memorial, The ! in the' Andaman Iolanda, rushed upon Col, North American Hereford with an axe, oat off top flagon of Indian, long be- fore the discovery of the continent by Europeans, hacked alto maple With hie stone hatchet,endguid-. ,ed the trickling y� Y0 sap in spouts of ",.• bark into a sorb &y v W• of rudetank made f rem a Mghollow- ed out by tiro and scraped with sharp atones. By.puttin heated stones into his tank of sap, the Indian was enabled to pro- duce a enbstance which wee undoubtedly nectar to the benighted savage, but which would seem like tar when compared with the amber•colored syrup from one of our modern sap evaporators. The Europeans brought with them kettles of iron and brass, and in these they slowly and with infinite waste of labor and feel, reduced the maple sap to molasses and sugar. Iron kettles were used for over fifty years, when they were enpereeded by large, shallow rectangular pane of sheet iron, wlaioh were set in arches ofhriokorstoneandgar %won- derful impebus to the sugar•making indus- try. Soon after the pan Dame the "heater" a Bort of boiler made of tin, with flues through the lower part, through which the fire was made to pose on its way to the chimney. By this arrangement a stream of oold cap was continually running into the heater from the store tubs, and a cor- responding stream of boiling hot sap flow- ing from the heater into the pan; thus the boiling of the sap in the pan was not retard- ed by the turning in of cold cap. By the pan and heater process a most excellent produot was obtained, and ,ZANY S00An MAILERS still make use of apparatus of this ,kind ; but the still more modern sap evaporator has found its way into nearly every large sugar orchard in the country. The evapor- ator is made of tin, copper, or galvanized irons, and is so constructed that the sap flows an at one end and, by means of parti- tion, extending nearly across the pan, 1e made to take a zigzag course to the other end, where it is drawn off as syrup. The sap in the pan is kept shallow—about one- half inch iu depth—and evaporates. very rapidly. Rapidity of evaporation is greatly to be desired, not only on the score of eoou- omy of time, but because the sooner sap is converted into syrup after it runs from the tree the lighter will be the oolor and the finer the flavor of the syrup and sugar. The season of maple sugar making is in the early spring, opening ueuaily about March 10th, and continuing three or four weeks, amending to the weather. Sap will run only when the temperature is at least thirty-two degrees F., and stops flowing as soon as froet is out of the ground, or direct• ly after the snow is gone. As soon as the weather is favorable tate maples are tapped by boring the stems with a small bit—usually half-inch—about one and one-half inches deep, and from one to three feet above the ground. Trees are not tapped until they are about one foot in diameter. After tapping, a Mr. Childs' Parana Prieui• We walked about the renovated Ledger building as we chatted, looking at the im- provements, when suddenly we came upon Me. George W. C. Drexel in close conver- sation with a visitor. Mr. Childs' eyes opened wide as they rested on the pair and he whispered. " He is an interesting character. Lot me introduce you." The visitor rose as we approached and greeted Mr. Childs cordially. lie was a fine-looking fellow, of good height, sparely built, but sinewy, strong and lathe. He stood straight as an arrow, with shoulders well back and the air of a Life Guards. man at "attention." His hair was brown and cut with military precision ; his eyes— as well as I could see them—were of a steel grey -blue and very penetrating, and impressed me wfbh a sense of his coolness and nerve. Has complexion was pink and ruddy, like that of a man accustomed to plain diet and out.of•door life where the sun does not ehine often and the climate is mild and somewhat damp. He wore no whiskers, but a close -cropped brown mus• tache, Mis dress was vory simple and in good taste, and he wore a long ulster of modern cut. Hie hand, which shook mine, was soft but firm. We bad a few minutes' conversation 'be- fore going on,and as Mr. Childs and I pass. ed into the next room I remarked : " Mr. Bidwell as a very agreeable man." " Yes indeed," answered Mr. Childs, "a highly accomplished man. He speaks sev- eral languages and is a clever writer." "Then it as as an author that I probably recall him," said I. "His name is perfectly familiar to me, but I cannot now complete the association iu my mend." Mr. Childs chuckled. "Perhaps I can help you oat," he sug- gested. "Bidwell was the most brilliant forger the world probably ever knew. He victimized the Bank of England to the ex• tent of nearly $5,000,000 and spent fourteen years in a British prison to,pay for it. Oh, he is a good citizen now,he added, as he noted the look of astonishment which involuntarily crossed my face. "He was given a ticket•nf-leave in response to the earnest intercession of a number of persons who believed that be had learned his lesson and that a man of his parts ought to be turning his powers to some proper use outside. Idon't know that I should want to include ham in the same category with the eminent divines and statesmen and generals whom we have been talking of today, but he belongs to the plass of legitimate cele• britise;lie has done hisone thing better than anybody else ever did at. If he had accom- plished a success equal in degree, bat for the promotion of some noble end, he would to -day rank among the greatmeaof the age." —[Kate Field's Washington. his d beforetlieend, end woundedcould be disarmed. tt Colim ,Hereforx the d, who is the Chief Commissioner of the is- lands, has mutt been reported as out of danger. Thirteen thousand oonviots are living at Port. Blair, which is probably the largeet penal settlement in the world. The Anda- man Islands are in the Bay of Bengal, and to Port Blair is sent the refuse of 260,000,- 000 people, The worst oriminale of British Iudia. and Burma, if they incur kink son - tenons of imprisonment, aro sent to Porb Blair, Over 8,000 of them are serving life sentences, THE ATTA010, the higher for it." "Likely not ho won't. Them 'sylmn children don't amount to much in general. Takes a mighty smart man to come out of the mud." "Your wife has done nobly by her," said the doctor. "She has the best heart." "She is kind," muttered the man,"an' she have stood about everythin' a woman can etas'. I'll get my own breakfust. Yon tell her to turn in an' sleep with the kids awhile." The doctor went back to his patient, and Mrs. Macon brought the little flannel ban• die out by the stove. tater the children were wild about it. Did the train leave the baby? were they going to have it alwaysd and could they see in the windows of the trains, as they passed, lots of baby faces looking out for mothers to take them? At night Mrs. Macon woke the doctor who was tatting a nap on the ohiidren'e bed. "I think, sic," she said, worriedly, " the little lady is gone out of her heath. She's feeling round in the botlulotltes for a dog, and palling ono pitifnl•lilte." "1 have been a blind fool !" cried the doctor. "I felt all the time I'd ought to know her." He ran to the sickroom, and, luckily, had some gelatine medicine in his naso. The sufferer, however, resisted long as. she slept sighed, and one tiny hand felt aretind nervously, while the other, clinched hard in the sheet, resisted all pressure to open it. The next morning the weito•haired chil- dren were very quiet; they played a long way from the house, and towards evening Doctor John kept them by him in the kitchen, telling atori.os. To this day the vain for a one looks 3o baby to counges el at t be his own pro- perty, obeli train that s P Colne by party, an;illnefon created by the doctor's !Aeries 'She's asleep," said Mrs, Macon, cont. upon the thief official of the islands is all the more noteworthy because, since the settlement of Port Blear was atarted in 1857, with the mutinous Sepoys as the first colon- ists, there have been only two murderoue. assaults on Europeans by convicts ; and yet to guard •this army of evildoers only one company of British infantry and several hundred Punjab polies aro smployed,a very email force when it is considered that there are no prison walla, and that the convict barracks are scattered all over the settle- ment, which ie several miles square. The hundred or more boats and canoes required for the work of the settlement are far more carefully guarded than the pris- oners themselves. There is no chance to escape, except by capturing these boats. Even then there would be little hope of freedom, for the Andaman% are far from land and lie in a region of tempests. The only refuge is the forest, where runaways are sure to die of 'starvation, if they are not shot by the natives. The authorities, therefore, have 'so little fear of any attemp to escape that as many as 500 of the cont vias are often sent ten miles away with- out any guards except their own officers. Even in this isolated place a remarkable incident occurs now arid then to vary the monotony of incessant road making and forest telling. Nearly eleven yeare ago gounds were heard like the firing of big sena, and it was thought a war ship had gone ashore on South Andaman. The sta- tion steamer was sent to tarry relief to the crew, but no wreak was found. The noises Dame from Krakatoa, 1,500 miles away, where the most 1RliIJAND IN 1393' Allreeeerul, it'rosporene Veer, A.eeerdtMg tote:1004 Authorlt5, The year which lase just drawn to a close hoe been remerkabic ac one of the moat peaceable and pi•ospethue which has Passed within the watery, In view of recent occurreneeO .it can hardly he oonsidersd nrievenbfel,' but these occurrences were ereoptional land do not affect its general character, The people, aa a whole, have never boon freer front daetrese end the evile which follow in its (e tree, a000rding to a oorroepondent of the 14021d011 Timee,. Since the year 1820, whiolt is , treasured in res membranes', they have not been favored by so dry a summer or a season more favorable to agrloultural pursuits. Altheugh the total area under cultivation showed a decrease of 5,305 agree in cereal orops' and 21,236 in green oreps, and some of the crops Were fight and thin for the want of rain,yet the drought Wilmot felt so severely in Ireland as in Englund, the soil retaining a large store of moisture from ptovioue years, which was drawn to the surface and pre- served the vitality of the seeds and roots. The result was that the harvest was saved in such good condition and so much earlier as to more than compensate for any deficiency in the :seepage under cultivation,, whioh, after all, was but alight, The total extent under cereal crops was 1,4S9,393 "l aores, and under green Drops 1,153,527 sores. The extent under clover and grasses was 642,050 acres, being an increase of 18,- 170 acres, and under bay or permanent pas- ture 1,625,108 sores, showing an increase of 6,184 acres, There is also an abundant supply of Bound potatoes and of turf, which are appreoiable elements of comfort in the smallfarm houses mid laborers' cabins. These advantages have had a tranquilizing and• encouraging effect upon the agrloultural classes, who are heartily tired of political agitation and disposed to apply themselves to more profitable pursuit•. There are many eatisfaotory signs of a beneficial change in the moral as well ae the material condi- tion of the people. Not the least impressive of these are the willingness and comparative punctuality with which rents are generally paid, the utter failure of the attempts which have been strenuously made to revive poli. tical excitement, and the greater readiness to adopt the practical suggestions of those who are competent to give good advice and have no selfish object to gain. Among the most active and successful of the agencies which are endeavoring to teach them better methods and habits are the congested districts board, the Royal Dublin society, the various educational institutions and industrial companies for employing teachers to point out the best system of dairy farming and butter -making, estab• • lishing creameries and encouraging small manufactures and cottage work adapted to the circumstances of the country. The well directed efforts of these several organize- tiene are effecting a marked improvement everywhere, although no redsetion has been effected in the amount of actual pauperism, which represents a stage of almost hopeless destitution. It appears from one of the last weekly returns for the year that the number receiving relief in. workhouses was 42,099, and outdoor relief, 53,165, whioh is a few hundred mere than in the corresponding week of the previous year. The general trade of the country has not shown much enterprise,but, though limited in volume, th has been sound and steady. Except in two or three instances, there have been no heavy failures during the year. Two of the failures were those of contractors, one of whom was carrying out light railway work in the west of Ireland. As a rule, credit has been well maintained, and all the banks have been able to pay good dividends, especially the Ulster com• parries, which have given as high as from 10 to 20 per cent, DREDGING THROUGH SOLID ROOK A Powerful Vessel Recently tionstructed for :Work at Alexandria barber: Formerly when it was needful to make a channel through rock it was ouetomary to shatter the obstacle by blasting and then dredge out the broken material, but, accord• ing to the New York Evening Post, resent dredges are powerful enough to out the way through rock without any preliminary blasting. A little while ago a new ohoonel into the harbor of Alexandria was cut in this fashion. It is 3011 feet wide and runs through solid rock. Lately it was decided to make a new channel at Bermuda, and for this special purpose a new dredger has been constructed fu Scotland. It is the largest in the world, loving a displacement of 2,200 tons, and is boill entirely of steel. Re length is 208 feet, bean 40 feet, and its depth 17 feet 3 inches, dimenaioas which will enable it to go anywhere and face any weather, The dredging gear, ladder and bucket chain are the strongest ever made and weigh about 100 tons. This gear has such au exoesa of strength that it will pull up the engine if any insuperable Impediment is met with in working, and a breakdown will thus be avoided. The bucket ladder is fitted with ten powerful buffer springs, to cushion any shooks that may be experienced when the dredger is working in a sea swell. The vessel will dredge to a depth of forty- five feet below water level, and will he able to out "her own flotation" —that is, cut her way through a bank above water level. TREMENDOUS 50L0ANI0 DISTsnaANOE of modern times wee in progress. Years ago the ship Runnymede sailed from Aus- tralia and the ship Briton from England, each having on board a battalion of the Eightieth Foot. The regiment was to be reunited at Rangoon. One dark night a terrible stoma caught both vessels near the Andaman%, and a great wave carried them high on the shore. Next morn ing, the regiment, without a man missing, was reunited on the Weed. Thebattalions had travelled around the world to meet, and a stranger meeting never occurred. Tho administration of this penal colony is a remarkable system of rewards and pun. i'ehments. Invariable good conduct secures better food, increased comforts, and finally wages for days' work. Twenty years of obedience to the rules secures a pardon for life convicts. Pardons are often granted for deeds of gallantry, and murderers, red- handed and with weapons ready, have been seized by their fellows, who risked their lives to gain the coveted freedom. The at tempt to assassinate the chief official of the colony may result in restrictions that the convicts have hitherto escaped. LIGRTKING STRUOK TREES. A. Trenrhzuan'a interesting, ExIerirn ants With Eleetrtelty, Some intsroithig experiments have been made in Feature by id. Dimitre in deter- mining the effect of lightning on different trees. Specimens of living wood of equal dimensions Cuero subjected in the direction of their fibres to a spark from a Holtz electrical machine. Osk was fonud to be easily penetrated by the current, while black poplar, wallow, and especially beech, were more resisting. In all these eases the heart wood was the least conductive, and behaved like laburnum. The observations made agree in a general way with statistics of lightning strokes in Europe, Thus, in the forests of Lippe, from 1870 to 1885, and in 1890, there were 159 oaks, fifty-nine pines, twenty-one beeches and twenty-one other kinds of trees struck. M. Dimitre's investigations establish the fact that the starchy trees, poor in oil, such as oak, poplar, willow, maple, elm and ash, offer match less reeiet- ance to the spark than beeches, walnut, birohes end limes, which are " fat" trees. One branch of the experiment afforded a singular confirmation of the wisdom of the recent introduction of oil as an insulator in certain departments of electrical work. It as shown that pines, which contain a good deal of oil in Winter, but have little oil in Summer, are much more resisting in one Beason than in the other. In Summer- time the wood is as eamly pierced by the spark as oakwood, and in Winter as diffi- cult to penetrate as beechwood. Meru the oil of beech and walnut wood is extracted byether,tbe sparkgoesthrough easily. .The dead wood of starchy trees is more easily pierced than the living wood, a fact which militates against the common idea that sap conducts the discharge. The bark and foliage of trees are, according to M. Dhnitre, bad conduotors. 0.00ADTAN 8001,0. 0AM1% spout made of clean maple, beech, tin or galvanized iron, and fitted with a hanger or holding the bucket, is driven firmly into the bole made by the bit ;a bucket of wood or tin is hung upon the spout, and the tap• ping prooeea as finished. Only one hole ie bored in young trees, but I have seen as many as half a dozen buckets, with two spouts each, hung to maples of large size. If the bucket fills with cap in a day the run is a good one, although twice this amount is often obtained n exceptionally favorable sap days. A barrel of good sap will make a piton of syrup or eight pounds of sugar. After being reduced to syrup in the evaporator, the product is allowed to cool and settle, more orleas of impurities being precipitated by standing. TAE a0EII0 The Fair Thing• Prominent People. The controller of Lord Lorne's household in Canada was Colonel, now Sir Frederick, De Winton. Sir Frederick was to have takenoherge of the Duke of Clarence's household ; but, on the death of the Duke he was transferred to Prince George, whose affairehenow manages. The Knight hes Oak- en a deep interest in African affairs and has been connected with tho Congo country. It will he learned with regret that his son Fenwick recently died in Africa, Fenwiok was far from civilzation, and there were no whites near him whoa the fatal fever seized him. Norman Munro, the millionaire publisher who has just died in New York, was e, Canadian. He was born in Millbrook, Platten county, :lova Sootie, fiftyone years ago, and was the son of a Nova Seethe farmer, and when he went to New York, in 1864, he poseesaed only n few hundred dollars. After getting employed in a pub- lishing office he saved enough money to start himself in a small way as the publisher- ot a weekly family paper, which soon bed came a mine of wealth to him. He ownes fast steam yachts and fast horses, and ie said to have been worth from three to five millions of dollars. Norman Munro has a brother George who is also a millionalr• publisher. George passed through experien nes similar to those of Norman. He has never forgotten his native land. Five chairs at Dalhousie College, Halifax, were endowed by him, and an addition he has given $45,000 to the same college for exhi- bitions and bursaries. is now ready for putting into cans for Bale, the size most in use being one gallon. The proper oonsistehcy of syrup is generally conceded to bo eleven pounds to the gallon and this degree of density 15 reached at 219 0 Fahrenheit. If wanted for sugar, the boiling is continued Dail the therms meter indicates 239 0 for pail sugar, or 238 a for cakes, when the mass is removed from the fire, stirred briskly for a short time, and then poured lute tin pails or cake amide, as the Daae may be, to harden. Pail augur retains its flavor better and does not became hard and flinty, as sake sugar does. It does not require 0o much boiling, poste leas than the latter, and is much nicer for household use. Cake sugar is good only when first made, as it not only loses its fine flavor, but beooms% almost as hard ae rock itself after standing a few weeks. Prices vary with the aeaeona and the quality of the article ; good pawl sugar being usually worth from ten to twelve Dents, and choice oaken from fourteen to eighteen centa. par pound in the home markets, with syrup from seventy-five cents t0 one dollar per gallon, with sometimos lower prices for off grades. The amount of sugar that a single tree produces in one season is about three and onoltalf pounds for the Champion Skater (just arrived)—' `What's that you Bey? T.ho rano declared off?" Corttmibtomen (apologetically)—' It hadto be, The ice is eo thin it wont hear." "HuhlThenwho is to pay my expensesenses for this needless journey 1" "Well, the committee is anxious to do the fair thing ; and if you all agree, we'll break up the toe and offer the prizes for a slamming' match," AVEOAOE MAIL ORnttA18D. Tapping the tree does not impair its vitality to any appreciable degree, and the holes usually close with the growth of the tree in about three years. The maple1o tree often lives to 1>e upwards t s of Dna hundred years old, itewood ieexoeedingly hard, mrd is vel• sed next to coal as fuel. The pure product of the maple is hard to find in the oily markets, se jobbers adult. Re Employed 60,000 Men. General Itlaltzeff, of the lluestan army, who died recently, has left to his helve, in addition to other property, twenty-nine mines, fifteen of them of great importance and affording tmployment to more thou 61,000 workmen. The long and happy wedded life of Gen. Lew Wallace is, it seems, founded upnn a pretty romance. He was but nineteen years old when serving his country in the Mexican war. A comrade talked much of a certain Susan Elston, who lived in his home town, Orawfordevlhle, Ind., and young Lieut. Wallace in consequence became enamored of a girl whom he had never seen. As soon ae lee left Mexico he journeyed to Crawfordsville, made Miss Elston's ate quaintanco, and three years later they were married. Mrs. Wallace is described as slight and.of medium height, with regular features and beautiful brown hair, which is sow tinged with gray. She has been all her life an omnivorous reader, and at her hest is a witty and brilliant conversationalist. Dn W olfred Nelson, formerly of Montreal, but now of of New York, has been made a member of the royal Geographical Society of London. He comes of a medical family, ten members having been graduated in aur eery and medicine. He is a son of the late Dr. Horace I4elson,of Montreal, a grandson of the late Dr. W Mired Nelson, a former Mayor of that city and Member of Parlia- ment. Amougtlmhinglishfamiliesin0anada, the Nelson family is one of the oldest. Its founder was Wiiliamn Nelson of Newsham. Yorkshire, England. In 1781 he settled in the RoyalBorouhh of William klenry,to' day Sonet. Hie father, George Nelson,was an offieerin the royal navy and a cousin of Lord Noleon. The Heada,eousina by blood, inrnished Canada with two Govcrnore• lir Francis Edmund Head and. I `3ir Genera , Bond Head, The new Pi.1 i.G.S. loft Can - edit in I876 going to ill-haaltli, and agent. some. years in Mexico and at Panama. Ho tattled in veer York in 1800. The oldest coin in the world is an il:geen piece of the year 700 n.o. The rearm elections in Brazil give Pre- sident Peixoto a majority in the next Con- gress. If all the people of the United States were placed ih Kansas, California and Ne - Intake, those States would not be so thickly settled as England is now. When "progressing" through the streets to perform some ceremony rho Prihce of Wales takes oft' his hat twolvo times on an aveeaVe u minute! that at is , the almost in. credible number Oseven hundred ti ea an hour. The Prince requires a new brim to his hat every fortnight.