HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1894-8-17, Page 2,�AND HIS DAUGHTER,
�H� DEAN
CHAPTER, XXV. bee certainly been a sappressio Berri, which
fiery neatly appproaches to lt.
T lose Walking doter the Iiigh Street 0110 t'Youkave, for'instaaoo, (not that I pub
da looking in at the chop wiudows, tether the point as influencing my own judgment,
y but ail one which might very well present
tltanabuutmo,whea,foraomoreasoa ornther, Itself most uniavorabiy to the judgment of
I threw my eyes across the road, and saw
approaching me on the other side of the
way the Very Reverend the Dean of
Salohester accompeined by no leas or other
an eeclesiaebio than the Very Reverend the
Dean of Southwick, and my eyes met those
of the two.
I mode a bow whioh was most unmie•
akably directed to the Dean of Salohester
alone, and intended to exolude hle com-
panion, and then quickening my pace
walked into' the very first shop whioh gave
me a chance of retreat, and whioh, proof•
dentiaily, wan a milliner's and ladies
drapers.
Here I mede several small purchases,
loitering over them until I oould see that
the coast was perfectly clear, and then I
sallied out, and, as quickly as I oould,
hurried home.
What was I to do? I did not want to leave
Salohester if I oould possibly help it. The
Meadowsweet trouble if I may so term it,
was moat probably doomed to a natural
death as soon as it was seen that Mr.
Meadowsweet and myself continued friends
n earnest and not in seeming merely.
But my father would be certain, out of
melee malice, to toll the story from his own
point of view, and with his own embellish -
moats, to the Dean and toeverybodyelse.
He would prefer them to the cruelly
misleading reports in the papers, of which
1 felt certain that his vanity had prompted
him to make an album, if only for the value
of the sentence in which the reporters
described the manifest emotion and positive
anguish with which be had given his evi-
donee. And, when I came to recollect it what
a malignant tissue of lies that evidence
had been, and how craftily framed to
discredit me to the utmost possible extent.
This much I might take for granted
Then came the question what would follow
and here I was fairly puzzled.
For the world, as an old proverb runs, is
divided into mea, women, and priests, and
if the two first are apt at times to puzzle
you, you can certainly say of eeclesiesti.ca
as a class, that it is utterly impossible ever
to tell how they will act under any given
sot of oircumstauoes, or even whether they
will act at all.
So I went back to my lodgings in a most
unpleasant state of uncertainty. I was not
going to t.11ow myself to be distressed at the
matter, lot it turn out how it might ; but it
would be a distinct affectation to pretend for
a moment that I was not very bitterly
annoyed.
Early next morning, while I was still
wondering what might happen, I was, I,
canoot but eoufess, astonished to be told! from beginning to end, leaving out nothing
that the Dean himself—not the Dean of that told against me, and carefully doing
Southwick bub the Dean of salchester itself justice, as I always have done and always
—would be glad to see me if I were disen-
gaged. I, of course, replied that I should
be delighted to see him, and in he came,
I have hitherto omitted to describe Di•.
Protert, aid I may porltiapaconveniently do
so at this point. Unlike my father, he had
taken a high University degree, and had
for some years aoteet es a Fellow and Tutor
of his College. In this capacity he lad
others), allowod yourself to pubhely par•
take of the most snored ordinauees of the
(Murch. That you.ehould have done 00 is
entirely matter for your own consoienoe. I
do not prosnme to question your oonduet,
or to impute to you for a moment any int •
worthy motive, But other ministers of
the Church might very well take a. different
view, and probably wnuld.
" I am cure you will acquit me," he.
went on, "of any desire to judge harshly
of your conduct, er toin any way dictate
to you, But I cannot help thinking, yen
will upon refloottou agree with myself,
that it is advisable than you should leave
Salohester. Pesouolly, I shall be sorry to
lose you, and I may say the same most
unreservedly for my wife. But you will,
I cannot but feel, see that by stopping
here you will place many members of the
Chapter, together with their familiee, in a
position of the greatest difficulty and
embarrassment; and this, as a mere matter
of good feeling, if not .indeed of positive
duty, you ought to do your beet at any
personal eaorifios to avoid."
It is refreshing to meet a gentleman,
even though he may bo bigoted. And I
doubt, after all, whether olergymen are by
any means so bigoted as it is the oustot0 to
represent them. And once again I could
not help thinking of ney father, and reflect-
ing how meanly and abatabily he had be-
haved, not only all through lite pitiful hie•
tory, but in this last miserable incident in
its coarse.
Had there been a spark of manhood in
his soul he would have bitten off his tongue
sooner than have used it of deliberate mal-
let) to drive me out of my little harbor of
refuge.
"lou are very kind,"Isaid, looping him
frankly in tite face, " and I ant very grate•
ful to you for the interest you have evinced
in me. I think, upon the whole, you are
right, and I promise you, although or course
I am in no way bound to do so, that I will
leave Salohester as soon as I can possibly
make the necessary arrangements. I than
be very sorry to po, and still mora sorry to
lose several among you wham Ibave already
learned to consider as my friends ; but I al-
most agree with you that whether up to now
I have been rioting rightly or wrongly, hhore
is now, at any rate, but one course open to
me."
"Relieve me, it is so," he answered.
"Obviously I shall keep my own counsel,"
I continued, "as to the causes of my depot -
Lute ; and in return for Itis promise, I have
one favor to ask of you, and that is to let
me now, and here, shortly tell you the true
story of my marriage, and of my .divorce,
and to form your ownopinion on it as to my
father's share in the events it contains."
"You have a clear right to ask that of
me," he answered, but with an air of evi•
dent relief et seeing the business end as he
had wished. "It is my duty, under the
circumstances, to hear and to thoroughly
consider and test anything you may have
to say."
Would any woman have done otherwise
than I did ? I told him the whole story
BRU S 14$
should know we had been the closest of
Monde and possibly even more,
I do not mind (u iformin that I keeled
the volume and put it tenderly by in my
travellingbag before turning to a yellow
covered eooleeiasbioal novel of Trollope'o
whieh I had purchased attire bookstall as
being more or lose appropriate to the ocoa•
sion.
So the train—it was, the express—tore
on through the pleasant country until Webegan
began to reach canals, and then brick•fields,
and then seburbs, and et last drew up in
that busy focus of life, the Great Western
Terminus at Paddington.
A brougham, for which I had written, wall
waiting for me, and I very quickly found
myself again within the hospitable portals
of Rawlings', tired with my journey, ready
for supper, and a little annoyed that it was
Coo late that night to go to the play.
1 badly missed my little maid, but there
nal) my sapper at any rate, and there aro
worse things after a long journey titan a
good English mutton outlet and a glass of
champagne. My sleep that night wag sound
ani it was pact ten o'clook the next met•u•
ing before 1 rang for my chocolate. .
CHAPTER XXVI.
After a couple of days again devoted to
maps and guide -books, with their corres-
ponding pros and cone, I decided upon
Easthampton as my future abode.
I was very much in the posltion of a
ohees•player who apparently has all the
board open to Ititn, while in reality every
square is hopelessly blocked. There are
plenty of foreign watering-plaoes but in
every one of them there was the oertainty,
rather than the risk, that my husband
would be perfectly well known by repute•
tion at any rate, and that I thyself should
be recognized.
England was my bettor chance, though
even in Haglund there were difficulties.
At one time I ahnost thought of the Chan-
nel Islands, where, so long as you pay your
bills nate a week with regularity, nobody
came who you are, what you are, or what
may be your destination, either in this
world or tate next. But the Channel Islands,
except for a very few weeks iu each year,
are practically ail remote from civilization
as the Sonth Sea Archipelago itself, and fax
certainly lees enjoyable.
So I gave the referee= to Eugland,and,
as I have said, pitched upon Easthampton,
of which I could say, with even more truth
than the Tichborne Claimant said of Wap-
ping, that I had never been there in my
life, but had heard that it was a very re-
spectable place.
ltasthatnpton is on the South Coast,some-
where between the Solent on the east, and
Plymouth on the west. It was originally a
flaking village, and that too, not so many
years ago. A London physician liked the
air and built himself a Swiss chalet there.
Little by little he began to buy up the land
"as an ox lieketh up the grass of the field."
Then be built one or two pleasant villas,
which he let, on distinctly advantageous
terms, to brother medical men. It was then
discovered for the first time that the air of
Eaotbampton world arrest consumption in
its earliest stages, and was an absolute spe-
cific for all infantile diseases.
Fashionable valetudinarians flocked to it.
The railway opened a branch line. Old
.Esuslapius was wise in his generation : he
intended to be a baronet, and to found a
family. Thera were three hotels in the
plane ; but he would only allow one public•
house, and sternly refused so much as a
rood of land for a dissenting conreuticle of
any denomination whatever.
The old land jobber's wealth grew like
that of Jacob Astor himself. The fore-
shore, whioh be had perchesod by the acre,
he let out on building leases by the square
foot. As there were no poor in the place,
no poor -rate, and nothing even remotely
approximating to a slum, the average mor•
tality was astonishingly low. And at last
spier was built, not for the vulgar purposes
of commerce, but to afford a promenade
and a lauding place for yachts.
shall do in my own mind, to the highly
honorable and dignified manner in which
my husband had acted throughout.
I spoke of him without it. word of bitter-
ness. I spoke of him in fact as I had
always found him—houorable, and, but for
his foibles ; a man to be admired. Of
George Sabine I also told the truth. Of
my father I also told the truth, without
preached several Uni •ersity sermons, which concealing any portion of it, and carefully
without being markedly heterodox or mili-
tantly orthodox, had yes given rise to con-
siderable discussion of a character entirely
favorable to their author.
After this he had been invtbed to preach
what I believe are termed show sermons to
fashionable and critical London congrega-
tions, who, like the Athenians in the days
of Paul, are always seeking after something
new. This had led to his gracious notice
avoiding anything that mightbe construed
into viudictiveness. And I then added,
what of course he knew, that I had come to
Salohester solely to hide myself and to
rest
.. And now,Mr. Dean," I concluded, rising
and offering my hand, "I must seely rest
and a hiding -place elsewhere. I shall go as
soon as possible, and I can only hope that I
shall be as soon as possible forgotten."
by a certain most exalted personage, The Dean was cordial in his manner, bet
through whose personal influence he had 'evidently relieved at the tarn affairs had
been elevated to the Deanery of Salohester,
with the entire concurrence not only of the
fashionable world, but of Printing House
Square, the inspired voice of which pro.
pounced him to be, in these days of doubt
and difficulty, perhaps the very best man
that could have been selected for the pre-
cise piece of preferment in question, and
bad gone on to draw a most learned and
interesting parallel between Itim and Cyril
of Alexandria, and Tillotson, and Keble,
and a dozen or so of other eminent ecolesi-
astics.
Personally, fortune had favored Dr. Pro.
pert. Ha was a man of fine presence, if
notaltogether of handsome features, and
would have made a capital field officer of
Foot Guards. He was now, to all appear-
ances, just
ppear•ances,just about the wrong side of fifty,
but by very little, and now that Iam recal-
ling these details, I may as well add that
be bad a faultless seat in the saddle, and in
many other respects contrasted more than
favorably with the county squires of the
neighborhood.
After a little exchange of sentences abort
nothing in particular, the Dean told me,
as I had expected, that he came to speak
to me as a matter of duty, upon a very
painful and difficult subject
I had guessed as much, and I told him
so.
"That is why," he continued, I have
taken the perhaps unusual course of calling
alone, because I wish, if you desire it, that
what passee between ue should be known
to no one but ourselves, unitise you think
fit to make it public on your own ac-
count."
"I shall nertainly respect your confi-
dence," I answered, ' whatever it may be
that you have to say."
"You are very kind," he replied "and
I think you willbea
acting prudently.
. Of
amuse yon saw me yesterday with your
father, who was somewhat surprised at
seeing you here, and from whom I gath-
ered with astonishment, and I mast also
admit not without a considerable amount
of pain, that you lad been stopping amongst
us under a name, which you possibly acting
under mistaken advice, had been led to
Mistime with the view of concealing your
past history.
'Under ouch ciroumntances I could have
had but ono opinion if you had in arty way
misled us by any positive and direct un-
truth. But it would be most unfair to
suggest for a moment that you have at.
tempted to do se. I have heard, more
than once, thee you have always spoken of
your past life as having been sed and
sorrowful and have begged to be excused
token.
' You will certainly not be forgotten at
the Deanery, Lady (lraven," he said. "
have no secreta from my wife, but she and
1 will always think well and kindly of you.
I can answer for her ail certainly as for my
self. Should chance bring us anywhere
together again, pray remember that we
consider you our friend, and hold you in the
hst of our friends. I am sure you are right
in going, and were I you, I should not
needlessly defer my departure. Let me
again assure you of my full belief in all you
have told me, and of my sorrow and eym•
smithy.
He shock hands very cordially and took
his leave, and some two hours) afterwards
his gardener brought round a lovely bouquet
of flowers, attached to whioh was Mrs.
Propert'o card, and the intimation in her
autograph that they came with her kindest
regards.
I saw the meseongor myself, and with a
heavy heart sent back a message of thanks.
By noon next day I had completed all my
arrangements, paid all my bills, disposed
of my pony and carriage, and taken an af-
fectionate farewell of my little maid, whose
sorrow at having to leave me was only
equalled by her astonishment at the unex-
pected present of a Post Office savings bask
deposit book, assuring her of the fact that
five pounds stood to her credit. I took her
round to the Post Office myself, and went
through the ueoeeeary formalities.
The poor child was fairly amazed, but I
am sure that the present had nothing
whatever to do with bee manifestatious of
regret at my departure, whioh were very
sincere and, in spite of herself, demonstra-
tive, the was a nice bright girl, and 1 hope
she has married as will marry a good Luo.
band.
1 had written to lir. Meadowsweet a re-
quest whioh he oould hardly refuse, that he
should be at the station to see me oft Ho
was there as boldly and as regardlessly of
possible Salohester opinion as need be. And
Ile alert was armed with some hot -house
flowers which I know must have come down
from London, and with a copy of the
Christian Year.
He saw me into my carriage, remained
tallying to me at the door, did not finally
shake hands until the train had begun to
move, and then atond watching 01 from the
platform until it turned a curve before
reaching the bridge over the river, and so
hid him from eight.
I put the flowers by and opened rho book.
Right woos the title•page he had Written
in his own bold, clear hand," Lady Craven,
from Sebastian Meadowsweet, with every
hearty good wish.'
'
$T,.
pearls, Beyond those I wore noowelry
whatever, exoopb a large fire opal, The
stone is not one which Wise ail a rule affeob;
bet for myself, I have always had aeort of
suporetitione fancy for it,
1 knew as I entered the room that there
was not a woman in it bather drososd than
inyeolf, or,. to emetic quite candidly, with
anything like my tasty. And anon have an
instinct over taste in woman's dress exactly
ail Women Have an inebinot over wino, al!.
though wholly ignorant of vintages, and
even of brand°.
I danood mob of the square dancoe, de.
°lined the round dances, wail taken down
to supper by the major liimsclf, and yield-
ed
ielded to his entreaties that after supper I
would join the °athlete. I was then driven
rapidly home and Wont to bed with the
proud oonaoiouenees that I had floored a
distinct triumph among the men, while giv.
Mg the women ail little ()evasion for jealousy
as possible.
(To BE CONTINUED;)
THE ISLAND O1 ST. HELENA.
This Famous Little Island Ilse (teen
Brought le reverie, Mud Dlatress.
An aohievemeat whioh the world hailed
au one of the crowning triumphs of this
century brought poverty and distress to a
famous and once prosperous little island.
The five thousand people of St, Helena
never dreamed, in the days when most of
the shipping that rounded the Cape of Good
Hope invariably called at their thriving
port, that the wharves of Jamestown would
become grass-gt'own and its shops would
close for laok of trade. The year round
an average of four vessels a day had drop-
ped into port to replenish their supplies of
fresh provisions and water. St. Helena
was the great refreshment etabion on the
ocean highway of the South Atlantic.
Europe had utilized It as the prison of her
greatest enemy. The world looked upon
it as a blessing to the seafarer and a cen-
veoienoe to trade ; and the natives thought
the sun of prosperity would never set upon
their little volcanic rook, But it did set on
the day that the Empress Eugenie opened
the Suez Canal, Jamestown has never
been herself canoe that day. Whore were
the buyers of ship's stores and garden stuff
who were wont to snake the long, narrow
ravine in whioh the town is built, a scone
For mo Easthampton bad this great ad-
vantage—that I should not he likely to be
identified unless I went into society in my
own name, which I had no intention of do-
ing, and also that, although the plane was
expensive, it was yet quite within my
lamins.
Acoordtusly I took Sea View Ban galow—
• o•oal led, I sit ppose because it had no veranda,
a emceed floor, and a set of garrets over that
—and I furnished it modestly and unpre-
tentiously, but very prettily, although I say
it, gavemy taste full scope. I also, of course,
started not aponybseket, but a respsotable
victoria, with a strong sedate cob. I took
three seats in the parish church, and sub-
scribed liberally to all the charities; but
carefully avoided acquaintance of the min.
letters of the altar, wlto, with their wives
and daughters, knew their " Crockford" as
wall as the membors of the Irish peerage
knew their "Debrett."
My exercise beyond the bungalow garden
was a daily drive. If I wanted a walk I
drove a mile out up into the country, dia•
missed my carriage with infractions to the
'tee htnan to meet me again, and took my
walk by myself among the lanes.
It was a dull life and yet a very pleasant
one. I had my flowers. I took to breeding
canaries, and I had a regular supply of
books from London through the railway
bookstall. I thus had enough to do ; and
if I am told that my days must have hung
heavily on my hands, I oaf only answer
that I was busy and happy as compared
with what I had been either at Ossulotou,
or in St. James's Square, or even at Sal -
cheater.
I dwell upon all this, because I might
otherwise teem to be hurrying my story.
But for the rosent,tat any rate, I an in
an uneventfulpart of it. Had I kept a
diary it would have been a blank for day
after day, little better or mote significant
than the wooden cross of Robinette °rusoe,
with its six consecutive ohm's notches
regularly followed by a deep one.
At last, however, the tittle came. The
barracks were finished, and the cavalry, a
regiment of Dragoons, and the infantry, a
battalinu from a double battlion Line
regiment, came down to their now quarters,
filling the whole place with animation and
bustle.
As soon ail they
had (tattled down nom•
t
fortably, it began to be known that the
Queen's Mitekoteer'e intended giving a
ball and inviting all the residents who
were what might be officially described as
upon the local Court Directory. I need not
say that kire. Gascoigne—that la to say,
myself -•was among the nnmbor of those
ca
who received a rd of invitation.
1 hesitated for some time, Then I deeld•
ad to accept but not to go, and to plead a
sleds headache as an exotise, if I should ever
hereafter be asked my reason for atay.
ing away. When the evening came, either
I must have thought better of the sick
headache, or else must have forgotten it, for
I most eertaluly dressed myself very caro.
fully and went.
I want to describe my dress. It was a
higli•out black velvet of that kind which
from making any referencia to it. Thio annoutteee its excellence by the way in
shows an honorable intention on your part, He at any rate was not ashamed that, which iteefolds hang. It was trimmed with
but if there has bean noetufcstaa falai,thero solar ar as I Was eoncorned, all the world point -lace, and my jewels were my favorite
Aaalvsat i ; 1894
FACTS IN FJ1 W WORMS,
Ito all Parole, there are only twenty milee
of railroad.
14oarly 3 per vont, of the deat)te in II"Dance
aro from apoplexy.
Pennsylvania produces 84,000,000 bar•
role of petroleum oil annually,
China raises and consumes more duoke
then any country in the world.
A Wisconsin man failed to kill his wife
because Iter coraebsstopped the bullet.
Tit) population of New York, as shown
by the new directory just bellied, is 19,37,-
055.
The thinnest, and at the same time one
of the tougbesb, lsathero tanned isit frog's
skin,
Gen. Booth elaima that the Salvation
Army converts to Christianity 200,000
people every year.
There are now about 0,300 Indiane i
the state of New York. Of these about 2,700
are Senegas.
A Frederick, Md., man has an old boiler
which he Malmo belonged to the first boat
propelled by steam.
The British mint has coined gold and sil-
ver to the yahoo of more than $2,000,000,-
000 during Vietoria'a reign.
In Persia the women of fashion ornament
their faces by painting upon them figures
of bugs and small animals,
Two shots per minute can be fired with
he Krupp 130 -ton gun, and each discharge
f the machine costs 31,500.
The largest bronze statue in the world is
that of Peter the Great, at St. Petersburg,
which weighs about 1,100 tons.
Sugar was unknown in Europe before the
Christian era, and only °ante into common
use in the seventeenth century.
.A's a fuel for vessels oil 'Is about one-
quarter cheaper than coal, according to ex-
periments recently made at Chicago.
One billion feet of timber per year is
being out in Texas, and at that rate it will
take but fifteen years to exhaust the sup
ply.
If America were as densely populated as
Europe it would contain as many people
as there are in the world at the present
time.
One of the now rifles used by the Italian
soldiers cauda a ball with force enough to
go through five inches of solid oak at a
distance of 4,000 feet.
Aeertain kind of mushroom grows in
northeastern Asia will produce intoxication
if it is eaten. It is also a stimulant to
muscular exertion.
The Egyptians were such hard drinkers
that they served boiled cabbage, with stilt
meat, as the first dish at a meal in order to
stimulate their thirst.
of busy traffic.? Where were the Intliameo,
and the ships of America, Spain, and the
Netherlands? Few of them have seen St.
Helena eine° the new route to the Orient
was opened. The number of vessels call-
ing at the island has steadily dwindled,
and Jamestown sees only one foreign ship
today for every six that used to sail into
her harbor.
At last a ory of distress has arisen, and
the British public are answering the appeal
for aid. The islandfs only a speck in the
ocean, far removed from most of the inter-
ests'of the world. Its people knew not
what to do when the means of subsistence
an which they had confidently relied proved
elusive and flintily deserted them entirely.
Soon the population 'began to decrease.
Many of the able-bodied men went to the
Cape of Good Hope to seek employment. In
spite of every effort, however, the condition
of the tnlandere bats gone from bad to worse.
In August, two years ego, the distress be-
came so great that the pangs of hunger had
begun to be felt when a British man-of-war
opportunely arrived end relieved the most
pressing necessity. The problem now is.
not merely to extend temporary relief, but
to provide the natives with the means and
traibine required to make them self -sustain•
ing. The islanders have tried to develop
their fisheries, bub have failed, owing to
their inexperience. Butfieh abound in their
waters, and it is believed that the fish -
curing industry may be made an adequate
means of livelihood. The "St. Helena Relief
Fund" has been opened in London for
the purpose of raising about 315,000, with
Which to buy a number of suitable boats
with nets and gear, to engage for a time
tine services of experienced fish curers, and
to establish a school for the training of the
islanders in this industry. The Government
has donated the use of certain public
buildings in St. Helena for this purpose.
This isnotthe first time that a handful of
people, in some isolated earner of the
world, have needed succor, and, we believe,
they have never appealed in vain. The
few hundred residents on the island of
Tristan da Cunha found themselves in sore
straits after the deoline of the Antarctic
whaling and sealing industry, and two
years ago, the natives of Watling's Island,
where Columbus first set foot on American
soil, asked for aid to bay a small vessel to
carry their produce to market. These little
communities have not the advantage of the
groat variety of resources usually open to
industrious mon, and it is fitting, if need
be, that the great world outside their nate
row sphere should help them to ways of
better helping themselves.
THE TYPEWRITER IN BATTLE.
Tote operator Bestrides a Bicycle and
Types Messages.
The typewriter on the field of battle is a
curious sight. 1t has not quite reached that
point yet, but it was to be seen at the mili-
tary tournament held recently in England,
in the mimic action. Tommy Atkins, mount-
ed on a oyole, whioh was surmounted by a
typewriter, rode into the arena and typed
ROUND THE WHOLE WORLD
WHAT IS GOING ON IN TEE POOR
CORNERS QF THE GLOBE.
Old ,tint NOW World Evenly or Interest
cureniulell Ilrlelly—lnterealing Hair'
Penlnae or Boucot nate.
London Imo one-eighth of the population
of Great Britain,
Most workers in Switzerland lobar about
11 hours a day,
The Czar of Ruseia takes 300 trunks with
him when ho travois.
Queen Ranavalona, of'Madapasoar, is °X.
pert with the phonograph.
Provisos is to be' made for greatly 'on-
largfng the British Museum.
Only 10 per cent. of German school boys
are said to go in for athletics.
Throughout the entire world there are
annually about 180,000 suicides.
Life savers on the French coast are here-
after to be aided by trained doge.
The Emperor -King of Austria•Hungary is
having a new palace built for him.
The descendants of Queen Viotoria are
either now in possession of, or will in the
natural course of events come to occupy
seven thrones in Europe.
The deed for what is now eastern Penn-
sylvania, given by the Duke of York to
William Penn, is for the term of 10,000
years, at five shillings rent.
Tee Vatican at Rome contains a marble
statue with natural eyelashes. It repre-
sents Ariadee asleep at the moment ohe.
was deserted by Theseus.
A novel mowing machine is being built
for use on the Erie canal. It is to run
over the bottom of the canal bed and out
the Jong grass which grows there.
There is an oak tree on the highway from
Warwick to Leamington, England,- which
is said Co mark the exact centro of Eng-
land. It is between 300 and 400 years old,
There are forty-eight different materials
used in Constructing a piano, laying no
fewer than sixteen difloront countries un-
der contribution and employing forty-five
different hands.
Experiments are now being made with
compressed hay for paving blocks. The
hay after being pressed, is soaked in a dry-
ing oil, which, it is Claimed, renders it
indestructible.
i.,emon juice, squeezed in California,
treated with a preservative peoe?es and
sent east by the barrel, is now sold in
earthen juga containing from half a gallon
to ten gallons. It is used for all sorts of
domestic purposes, for Jemmied°, and for
making mixed drinks at the bar and in
clubs.
TYi'EWEtTINe IN TUE I+IEL0,
the messages taken from the signalers,
while a trained war dog parried the die.
patches to the rear. Whether all this.
would do in real warfare romaino,of eouree,
to be seen.
Prineces Colonna has begun suit at Naples
for a judicial separation from the prince.
Latin ie used in all the civilized countries
of the world for physicians? preeariptions.
Australia is sending -large supplies of
poultry and game to the English markets.
A project is on foot to introduce into the
United Kingdom the edible lichen of Ja-
pan.
The ohief industry of the Bahrein Islands,
British colonies in the Persian gulf, is pearl
fishing.
The value of property now held in France
for charitable purposes amounts to 3350,-
000.000.
The manusoripb of Swiuburne'e " Poems . i.
and Ballade" was sold in London recently
for 01,000:
The Empire of Morocco is the most im-
portant State that is absolutely without a
newspaper.
Prince Alexis Karagoer-Geviae dealares
that he has the only legitimate claim to the '
throne of Servia.
There is a gun in the British navy, a 22 -
ton Armstrong, which hurls a solid shot a
distance of 12 miles.
The Dowager Duchess of Sutherland is
provided for with 32,500,000 down and an
annuity of 325,000 a year.
The widow of lien. Boulanger intends, it
is said, to spend the remainder of her life
in the French colony ail Tunis
Arthur Orton, the Tichborne claimant,
has issued a protest to the British public
against the judgment rendered in hie ease.
Tile existence of peronosporoe in the
Ionian Islands and at several points on the
mainland has now been ascertained.
1t is unlawful in Turkey to seise a man's
residence for debt and sufficient land to
support him is also exempt from seizure,
Lord Russell, the new Chief Justice of
England, is the first Roman Catholic who
has filled the position since the Reforma-
tion
Prince Andre Poniatowaki annonnoes at
Paris his engagement to Miss Sperry, of
California, slater of Mrs. Wm. H, Croaker.
During the 'last fifty years more than
9,000,000 people have emigrated from
Beaked, of whom 10 per cent, have re-
turned.
The property insured last year in London
by the fire insurance companies and under-
writers at Lloyd's amounted to over 34,-
000,000,000.
Damining the Irish Channel.
A stupendous scheme bee recently been
seriously suggested for the utilization in
British waters of the energy of ocean au-
reate for the purpose of distribution of
power and light by means of electricity to
centres of population at a distance of hun-
dreds of miles from the Bourne. This is
nothing lees than the proposition to dam
the Irish Channel at the Mull of Cautire,
where the distance between the Scotch and
Irish shortie ie only fifteou miles, and where
the energy of the current from the north is,
ao far as human requirements go, infinite—
that is, would have to be expressed in
scores of millions of horse -power.
That this proposition is being regarded
with some degree of seriousness env be
gathered from the fact that a series of hy-
drographic surveys of the bottom of the
channel has been made and charts prepared
of the coast and of the highlands on both
sides from which materials might be con.
veniently got for building the dam. The
report of an engineer detailed for the pur-
pose is to the olfeut that there tare no engur-
miring difficulties in the way ; by which is
meant that, given the means to proceed, it
is a possible thing to do, and is, compared
for matinee with the erection of the Brook-
lyn bridge, a piece of work requiring mere.
ly enough brute force.
Women Bieyolists.
The death of the lady cyclist from syn-
cope after a bicycle ride is, of tourer), the
text for many fraternal warnings anti
ad-
vice to lady bicyclists b give up the eta
joyment of an exercise in which it is feared
they may indulge 10 exoeoo. They are, of
course, told by some that bicycling is un-
adyliko, if not unwomanly, and that worsen
de not know hew to practice the careful
restraint in such matters to which men aro
aconstoned. They may very well afford,
however, to treat all this sage adViee as at
least super•fiuotte. So far from being un•
suited for women, bicycling is an exerelse
iu which they may indulge with perfect
eeourity,and generally with much advan•
tags. We are persuaded that they tare as
littlt prone to excess in athletics as aro the
generality of men, and within reasonable
bounds we should like to see cycling as
generally praotlead by Women as by mon,
end it would be greatly to the advantage of
The number of telephonic stations in
Germany, which was 1,504 in 1881, had in-
creased at the beginning of the preeeut
year to 63,508.
Liverpool hats just extended its bounda-
ries, taking in several suburban districts,
and is now the seoond largest city in the
British empire.
In one auction room in London during a
single season it was estimated that over
500,000 bird skins from the West Indies
and Brazil were sold.
The Grand Duahees Catharine, for whom
the Russian court is now iu mourning, was
the cleverest and most popular member of
the royal family.
In Syria the people never take off their
caps or terbium when entering the house or
visiting a friend, but they always leave their
shoes at the door.
It is believed in Berlin that Prince Maxi-
milian, of Saxony, who was recently conse-
crated a priest, went into a menaatry
through disappointed affection.
Mrs. Thackeray, the wife of the great
author, who recently died atthe quaint
vills .ge of Leigh, fn Essex, wasafine-looking
old ladywihh perfectly white hair
Since the Emperor William gave to
Leoncavallo an order to write an opera on
" Roland von Berlin" no less than 13 other
composers are toning over the same ma-
terial.
Prune Minister Clriapf, of Italy, whose
life was attempted by an Anarchist, has
reoeived telegrams from Biamarok and
Chancellor Von Caprivioougratulating hint
on his escape.
The eldest son of Mr. Wilson Barrett,
the actor, has adopted journalism as a pro.
fosalon, and ha is the proprietor and editor
of a weekly illustrated journal published in
the provinces.
The Queen usually signs about 50,000
documents a year. She rises at 7.30, has
prayers at 8, after which she walke for an
hour, and then works with her secretary
until2 o'olook.
It is sold that the gold contained in the
medals, vessels, chains and other objects
preserved in the Vatican would make more
gold coins than the whole of the present
European circulation.
Emperor William, in reviewing the
troops sent to south-west Africa, exhorted
them to treat the natives with moderation,
and not to forget that though black they
aro capable of honorable feelings.
A new boa o for ed
p b is now being bdilt at
e for f £ r the Government, French o G n
t t whioh
to to be the fastoat in the world. The
speed, if nothing is wrong in the °aloela.
tion, will be from 29 to 30 knots per hour.
The oily of Fenian, in Croat Bucharia, is
out in the side of a mountain. There are
12,000 artificial caves, some very largo, and
two ebatnoe, one ninety, the other twenty
feet high, each hewn from a (tingle 01000.
Princess Beatrice closely follows all the'
topical songs, and after dinner at Balmoral
the Qaeen frequently listens to a medley of
popular ales played by the Princees, who
in all theatrical :natters 113 thoroughly up
to date.
The expression "Al" is taken from the
symbols of"iTho l3ritielt and Foreign Ship -
pin List" of Lloyd's, "A" is used to
many cyoling chits and cycling reeorte that dosignat° the coniditiont of the hull of a
the ladylike element should be more largely vessel, and: the figure "1" to denote the.
introduced. I efficient abate of hoc macho/oables, etc,