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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1894-9-21, Page 2EDEAN .AND g.ts.. DAUGHTER ER XXXVII CRAFTER lever been a bight ora very happy one I mast live it pub fur a, long as the god. As Ethel bad predicted, within a nor Y may, pipes, and most endeavor �vhen the feel meet miserable to thinkofyou, io.wa aaG at i k1# r c B 0.i w Mends in e 0 P d u fto le out bnIil looked a bows and 'ot to H a d ni si t ort s i for b lofting uat' t o door of our box, o k gp my heed, elft, with all hie emanative a , le grasped ie and shook ie heartily, bat tenderly, lu the iruestand simplest iingliah midge, and so went his way, For the very soul of line w0., sorry for the man, And yet I could not sae at that moment, at any rate, how I could possibly have acted otherwise cr have said or left unsaid a'tingle word, come, as 0mere matter of forth, before lift ing the latah. Of course, 1 bowed graolously, and Men, tinned to him to enter ; and equal,, mum, he wee in amamoat ab my aide. " I hardly expected, Lady Craven," the Prince said, "to find you and Mrs.. For - theme in Paris l and I certainly never dreamed of finding yell hereof all pleats in this moat %harming of cities." Prince Balenikoff, I need scarcely say, came to breakfast, and did nothingbut talk about, .R,ngland, and declare that he had half a mind to live there. The more he saw of the English, the better he got to understand them and to like them. It was a mistake ` into which foreigners poly too easily fell, to assume roughly, that the Eng lieh were all churlish, and difIonit to get on with. It is nothing of the sort. All that you needed to do, was to take them in the right way, which meant of course, to flatter their vanity and play upon their foibles, and they were the easiest people to manage in the. world. That the men were brave no one had ever doubted, although they labored under the delusion that bravery was a virtue of which the Anglo- Saxon ram had a monopoly. Before the Crimean war, they were under the delusion' that Russians could' not fight. They had. actually forgotten how Napoleon himself found the Russian rank and file more than a match for his picked battalions. The Prince was a Russian, and no doubb, "spoke fine ," or, to be more exaot was a most abominable liar, But that he had made money, or had, at all events, some- how got the control and command of ir, was beyond all question; and it was money after all, or, rather, what money could give me thatwas the only thing now left for ine in a world, the rules of which, like the laws of the Medea and Persiaue, alter not, But there was one good influence that kept me back, when 1 might otherwise have been weak enough to give way. It was the memory of George - Sabine, with whom, as with a touchstone, it had long. been my habit to test in my own mind every man across whom I came. How little the world, as it calls itself, knows of the truth 1 the very man to whom, if the world was to be believed, I owed my ruin, was the one the mere memory of whom kept ine from evil, against which I might otherwise have been weak and power- less. Before very long the inevitable, exactly as I had foreseen it, actually falsified the reputation it has of late years acguired,end came to pass most naturally. The Prince began 'to say thab be feared he was like all hie countrymen, little better than an immense schoolboy (atthisperiod Ethel, with a deprecatory murmur, was wicked enough to leave the room); that it was idle to attempt to conceal the foot from himself, and that he wan sure he could not possibly hope for a moment to conceal it from me. He knew perfectly well that he was risking my very gravest displeasure, and risking it most unwarran tably. I should be inont entirely justilied if I were to forbid him ever to speak to me again; but he could only throw him- self upon my meroy. He never wished again to set foot in Russia. Out of that country he could defy the Czar himself. Hie Imperial Majesty would utter terrible threats, no doubt, but threatened men lead proverbially long lives and he had for him- eelfno reason to tear that he should form any exception whatever to this most pleasant and wholesome rule—a rule of which alt despots are perfectly well aware, and upon which they habitually acted. Whatever articulate expression the anger of the Czar might take, ne had long ago made up his mind to leave the country, and in fact, had made all his preparations for doing so. He would be safer perhaps in the United States than anywhere else, for although the rel,• time between Washington and the Imperial Chancellerie were very cordial, the United States had almost moat sternly refused to regard political ofi'ancee as mattera of ex. tradition. For himself, however, he did not care where he went, and would leave the choice entirely to me. All he had to do was to beg me to reconsider my decision. And then he fairly, and without the least lis• simulation, lost all control over himself, and urged his affection with a vehemence that almost terrified me by iia obvious and painful sincerity. Here, at all events, there was no acting or pretence. The man was eavegely fn earnest, and his wild and ungovernable temper was something more than danger- ous, it was absolutely terrible. I did all that I could to quieb him, and, to put the matter as bluntly as possible, to get rid of him, I told him with all the Plainness that truth has, when you can bring yourself to speak it out courageously, that Iliad really loved but one man in my hie, and should most certainly never love another; adding, with ecareely equal vera- - pity, that 1 meant to treaeure that man's memory, and to live faithfully as hie widow until the day of my death ; that I had vowed as muoh and dare not break my vow; that if I did, the vongeanoe of Heaven would most certainly overtake met and then, having 00 other arguments left that occurred to me as at all likely to be of any avail with ham, buret into a passion of tears, which were as genuine as any I had ever shed, and begged him to show ,little mercy and leave me at once. " You wield an authority," he said, "more potent over me than that of hie Imperial Majesty himself, If I disobey him he can kill me, and wore he to set him- self to work about, the task in anything like earnese would no doubt emceed in it. Well, you can only kill a man once. I have seen men shot. I once saw a wretch of a Pole knouted to death. It was nob exactly a plangent sight, ; but it was intereeting, and I admired his courage. To use your Eng, lieh ideas, he died game. I think—in fent I am sure—I could do the enure myself. But you are condemning me even to a death in life far more terrible then any deeth,more terrible and more hopeless than even the deepest and darkest Siberia mines 10 which we leave our worst malefactors to tot. I hardly deserve, this of you, aur is it merciful or like yottrself. Aud yet I can not see what 1 am to do or to say, I imp. CHAPTER. XUXV1II I stayed in Pari, for a few days longer, out of mere indolence. There are pertain place, in the world which tempt you to remain in them. The effort to gave them is as great ne that reyaired on a cold frosty morning to virtuously jump out of your comfortable bed and plunge into cold water. For my own part I cannot believe that Providence intended the world to be un- happy for us. And here let me briefly give my own idea of what the world ought to be. It is the world of which George Sabine spoke to me. It is a world within easy reach of Loudon. It is a world where nobody gives you any worry or bother, and where you on your own part are . equally cautious and discreet. There is no post - office, there are no daily papers, there are no fashions, there are no lions to expect to be feted, there is no Opera -house, there is no oiroulating library. But,. for benefit. of men, who are always selfish, there are clube and music -halls. These are frequent- ed by the men alone. No woman shall willingly stay in them for a minute, or visit them a amend time. I continued to think of this world vague- ly anis indefinitely. Ethel was delighted at the mere idea of a change. A genuine English country house, like that of the Fox's, opened up unknown possibilities to her. I need scarcely say that I knew the English country house only too well. There are the hothouses, the kitchen -garden, the stables, and, perhaps, the home farm Country houses resemble each other as do mountain peak,, or millstones, or telegraph posts, or daisies ou the lawn which is spread in their front. How ridiculous it is in these days to talk of goinginto the country for a change 1 A railway takes yon to the summit of the Vigil, and you are offered a brandy and soda. You reach the apex of the Great Pyramid, having been hoisted up ky attendant. Arabs, and you find Bass' bottled ale, with a red pyramid on the label, Watling's pork pies, and Blandy's Maderia. At the beginning of October we found ourselves at The Uplands. It was one of those English country houses for which a Parisian banker wouldgive at any minute a dozen chateaux. It was an old ugly build. ing, to which story after story, room after room, and wing after wing had been added, with no regard whatever to the inexorable requirements of architeotare,butsimply ac- cording to the immediate necessities of the moment. Behind the house itself plantaticna of Norway pine stretched up to the turnpike road. From the front of the house down to the river ran a wilderness of lawn, with red geranium and gaudy heliotrope. Then a carpet of turf, as smooth as a billiard. table, brought you to the river's edge, where there were boats and punts, and where under the shelter of her own house lay the little eteamlaunch,whieh was always ready to start, and to make any number of miles in the hour. And from the bank, If you ware so diapoaed,you could catch perch, nr gudgeon, or eels, to your heart'soontent; while in the big eddies lay antediluvian trout, proof against any some, .and con. temptuous of their riparian owners. We were welcomed with the utmost cordiality. Whatever London may be there is, at all events, ltttle onnntraint in an English country house within the Lon- don radius. Ethel and I were at home at once. The men staying at The Uplands were pleasant enough. With the vermeil 1 some- how could not get on. Perhaps there were, faults ou both sides—the faults being mainly jealousy and eu5plaion on their side. For I can deolare most truthfully as far as I was concerned, that I was entirely iniucent of intention to give or willingness to take offence. `hey were annoyed by a number of things; by my manner, whtch waa certainly not theirs; by my toilette, which certainly differs from theirs; by my self-possession and reticence, and unwillingness to be pumped or to join in idle gossip for its own sake. We had, to sum up the position, no common interests. And I may fairly say, and without any conceit, that I felt myself very much like the ugly duckling in the wonderful story of Hans Anderson. The people in the house were to use the ordinary phrase, mixed. " How do you like Cowes, Mr. Snip 1" once asked a prince of the Blood Royal of a most eminent Saokvilbe Street tailor. " Very well, your Royal Highneae," was the answer; " bat I find the company a little mixed." " Bless my soul, Mr. Snip 1" the Prince answered, "did you come down here and expect to find us all tailors?" Well, the society at The Uplands waa,no doubt a little mixed, but il; did not entirely consist of City people. On the nontrary, it was almost as varied as are the hues in a kaleidoscope. There are two kinds of rich men. Some have immense wealth, but not much reedy money. Others have moderate wealth,and, within reasonable limits, any amount of. ready money. These are the men, who are able at any moment to write a %heck in four figures without muoh anxiety, although a war, or an unexpected turn of the markets may ruin them, and sometimes does. But, as a rule, they are very seldom so ruined, and, upon the whole, have a happy time of it. Dividends and coupons aro far more easily to be collected than is rent. And these two kinds of men were'well represent ed at The Uplands, The lawn was nearly full. I can only piok the prominent guests. There was a London Rector, with his wife and eldest daughter. His parish was in the Oity, and be had only ten pariehioners. He drew two thousand a year, paid two hundred to a curate, woe Chaplain to four or five City ootnpaoioa,and preached at Whitehall upon occasions. But he was.. a good man, eharit- able to a fault, and thoroughly sincere, There wee a West -end doctor with an enormous practice. Hit specialty was latent ooneumption: You might not have got consumption at present, but he could stake hie professional reputation that you would be an incurable victim to it within six months unless you took hie advice—his ddvice being, that you should go to Men, tone, atop there es long as you liked, and gee him again upon your return. There was the editor of the Comet, a weekly six -penny paper to which gll,the taleote ootttrtbuted, and wbioh erowo_1 each Saturday ea loudly as the Dock to oah'a Ark would have done, if that patriarch had been weak enough to allow the bird to perch itself upon the roof for that express pus - pee. There was also Lord Robert FJta.Ronry, third brother of the Duke of Berkshire, with ulur e income whioh h e e nt 1 rel y de- voted toeaohttia�never getting foot on shore excpt for chew. Ile had taken hie eorew-ateemer, the Miranda, to Spite- bergen and to Cape Horn, to the Straits of Sunda, and to the Bay of Sao Franoieco. He was unmarried ; preternaturally tall ; bony and inueoular ; intensely ugly, and with all the generosity and dash of a sailor just paid ole: Loeb amongst the company was Lord Ashwell, heir presumptive to the Earldom of Cambridge. He was a mild young man, with more promlee in him at present than reality ; but of promise there wee abun- dance. A trainer would probably have de. aeribed him as a leggy colt, Leggy colts, however, are apt to develop into dark and dangerous home. I became somehow in- terested in Lord Ashwell and took notice pone I must aooept my fate.. My life has TONS OF POWDER J O .E1 PREUAVTIONs TAKEN IN TRANS- PORTING THE EXPLOSIVE.. ' All Fires an eke Lydian lltottanek Put „ i• U r ie lona ui 'reek i Mer 1 Ir G g e T sir rl ora. Qi r 4 • It meat, ,nil Againierl'ane i was f In loaded. The Wilson line stoamahip Lydian Mon- arch, Clapt, W. S. Morgan, arrived in New York from London col Sunday morning, having on hoard ten tons of amokelese powder. Ten tons of powder, smokeless or any other kind, is a tioklish thing for a steamship to carry, but the officers of the Lydian Monarch say they have been carry- ing powder for years and have never had an accident. Great preoautione ore taken. The steamer is not permitted to take the powder aboard until ehe has left London, and when New York is reached she must discharge the explosive portion of her cargo before looking, The smokeless powder that came over on the Lydian Monarch was packed in half.pound copper Daus, one hun. diad of which were carried in a wooden ease lined with zino. lie was close upon six feet and large limbed, Most women would have called him awkward end uncouth. He had a pink fade, red lips, a downy moustache, eyes of gray blue, and a mop of crisp yellow curls. Re blushed when you spoke to him. He never seemed to know exactly what to do with hie hands, and his powers of conversa- tion were moat distinctly limited. He was about four.and-twenty. If you had dressed' him in a slouch hat, a smock frock, cordu- roys and ankle -jacks,. it would have been impossible to take him for anything but an agricultural laborer, until he had opened hie mouth. Then you would have found that you were dealing with an English gentleman, somewhat diffident, but more than usually a000mplished, and well read. Somehow or other I took a fancy 80 this young man. He was in no way whatever like George Sabine. Theis was not one point in common between the two. And yet neither would have compared disadvantage. ouely with the other, and I am sure that if they had met by any aooidet, they would have proved firm friends. It is a fallacy to suppose that men of bhe right sort must needs resemble each other, as closely as do peas or potatoes, or, for the matter of that, pearls. The merit of a map is his individuality. The more be is unlike other men the better, as a rule, will ft be worth your while to .cultivate him. About stupid people and winked people there is a very dreary monotony. Rogues are so like each other, that a detective with any experience can single out a pickpocket in the midst of crowd. (TO DE 001:TINVBD.) A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. The Awful Creme of Man 111 Austria— Killed Ole 5011 instead of Guest A Vienna correspondent writes :—In Tarnopol, in Galicia, a peasant is about to be tried for the murder of his own son, under circumstances so uncommonly tragic that the trial, which under ordinary cif 0umataneee would have excited little or no comment, is now assuming the dimensions of a cause celobrc. The prisoner, Adam Gavrido by name, who has a little farm in the village of Zbarats, ekes out his liveli- hood by keeping fowls and bees, and he lately disposed of this year's honey to a merchant named Solomon Barb for the sum of 50 florins (£4 2s), stipulating that the quantity should in no case be leas than the minimum agreed npou. On the day of delivery drawing near, the peasant inform - TI+MI33+II 21, 1894 SUMMON NOTES. Prefeeser Dolboar sage oleotricity pea- sa0050 0.0 virtue ne such for the 0010 of dia. ease. It will make as bad ulcers 0.e it will heal, and destroy life as complacently tel Strychnine or the guillotine. The aerial space within the limit of our eo f p have dam fro ' calculated 0.v i o a au atod to VinOn i% u of 0 011C a it mar e ile and o au f 4,OAo0,000 m s, 1,329,742,000,000 miles. And this is only a fragment of the imineneity of space. Labe explorations have extended bhe length of the famous Adelsberg Dave, in Austria, to six mlleo,which 10 three fourths of a tulle greater til notitan hw rove of arded gas eche k in Hungary, Jargeet of the European 00.950, Iti ie nob likely that earthquakes ever re- sult from electrical disturbances, and it has not yet been proved that they over give rise to any such, though when large messes of rook are displaced, me in Japan in I801, erlfghblooalohangesin magnetic curves have resulted• The Lydian Monarch took on an assorted cargo ab London and steamed to a point off Gravesend, where lighters having on board the casesof'powder were in waiting. Be- fore she was allowed to get near the small- er craft all her fires were put out. Even the galley stove was extinguished, and every match on board was stowed safely away, far from the epof where the powder was to be placed. Then the lighters came alongside, and the work of gutting the powder on board wee begun. Just before things were ready for the powder the sea- men on the steamer, who are indulged un- til the last moment, were required to lay aside their pipes, 'so that when the first Daae of powder was lifted over the rail there was not so much as a spark any- where on. theateamer. .Despito the weight of the aaee0 they were taken on board by the men. A hoisting machine would re- quire an engine, and an engine a fire, all of which, would have been in violation of the law. ed his customer that he could not bring together anything like the quantity stipu- lated, but he undertook to pay to Barb, as. damages, whatever sum the Rabbi should declare was reasonable. The pair accord- ingly sought out the Rabbi, and laid the matter before him ; whereupon he adjudged ten florins to the defoliant, which the peasant Gavrido paid immediately. The two then SW0010191) TO A TAVERN, where they enjoyed themselves—as enjoy• meats go in that out-of-the-way dietriat— Lillan advanced hour of the evening. As the rain was falling in torrents when they left the public -house, the peasant, whose house was hard by, r.roposed that the merchant sltould pass the night with liim. The latter aonepted the offer with thanks. As soon 0e they reached the farmhouse. Gavrido prepared a shakedown for his guest in the hayloft, and having Been him safely to bed,bade him good -night, clueing the door very carefully behind him. This superfluous trouble he gave himself to fasten the door awakened the suspicions of the merohant, who softly left his rude pouch in great terror, groped about in the dark until he found a second door, which. was fastened only on the inside with a bolt. He rushed out of the place as fast as he could run, until he almolb reached the tav- ern auern where he had spout the evening. Mean- while the grown-up son of the peasant re• turned home in a state of iutoxication, and. finding the door of the hayloftwide open, entered, flung himself upon the straw, and waasoonfast asleep. A gendarme, meet- ing the merohant on his way to the public, house, stopped him, and aaleed him to give an account of himself, which Barb very willingly did, narrating the ev'enta of the day. The gendarme, however, disbelieved the story. ARRESTED THE NA10RATOR and took him' to Govrido'a house in order to verify hie tale. They knocked at the door, kinked, and shouted, but no one gave any sigh of life.Ti'ereupon the gendarme broke In the door with the butt -end of his gun, and be found Gavrido washing hie blood-stained hands in the middle of the room. The moment he espied the merchant he nearly fainted, and screamed in terror. "But I have out your throat this moment; how did you come back to life?" The gendarme took him into custody, and then returned to examine the hayloft. There he found the body of Gavrido', son, the head almost severed from the trunk. Gavrido wrung his hands and wept bitterly when he learned what he had done. His trial is now about to take place in Tarnopol When the Lydian Monarch left London she was laden to her oapaolty, except o0 the starboard aide of the lower deck aft. In this part of the steamer a sort of wooden nage, not unlike a huge chicken coop, had been built for the reception of the powder. It was made of heavy boards, nailed. aogeth- er with copper nails, and wee just beside the main hatchway.' The oases of powder were handled carefully from man to man until they reached this store room, where they were packed for the voyage by First. Officer William Sanders and Second Ofliaer Hugh Dibb. As soon as the last case was packed away and the entrance to .the magazine had been bolted with heavy strips of wood, the main and every other hatch• way were battened down so that it would be impoelible for any one to get near the powder. Not ones during the trip were any of the hatches opened, and severe punishment wouldhave been inflicted upon any man caught lighting a match or smoking near the spot where the powder had been stored. All of these precautions were kept up during the trip and on Sunday, when the Lydian Menorah dropped anchor in GravesetsdBay,the powder was in exactly the same condition as when it was placed on board at Gravesend,. England. Earlyyesterday mor nip g preparations were made to remove the powder from, the steam- er to lighters, Before a hatch was opened every fire on board was put out. The lighters then came alongside, and as deli - mealy as they would have handled cases of fine china the seamen of the Lydian Mon- arch removed the hatches, opened up the magazine,and began passing out the powder. About fifteen men stood in line, two feet apart, and passed the cases along until they reached the lighters, where they were laid in piles upon the decks. After all the powdek had been removed the Lydian Mon- arch got up steam again and proceeded to her dook in Brooklyn, where she discharged the rent of her cargo. To areporter Second Officer Dibb said: "Of course, its neoeesary to use every pre. caution when you have so much powder on board ship, and while . to a landsman it may seem teat weare running great risk we are in reality in no danger, for I can imauine no way in which the powder could he exploded unless the shin naught afire. The men as well as the. olficere appreciate the fact that the utmost care tnust be ex- ercised. It would be absolutely impossible for a man to reach the powder, as there are hundreds of other cases packed all around it, and the hatches are battened down and watched night and day." Drawing' the Line. Mrs. Do Fashion -"My dear, I have picked onto, husband for you." Mies De leaehion—"Very well ; butt want to say right now, mother, that when it comes to buying the wedding dress, 1 am going to seleot the materials myself, so there." Sir Fredrick Leighton is a linguist, read- ing and speaking French, German, Italian. Spanish and Ibusai80, while he has some considerable knowledge of Turkish. SPENT SIX DAi)S UNDER A WHARF. Though the petref'is swift the frigate bird is far swifter, Seamen generally be. Rove that the frigate bird pan start at day- break with the trade winds from the coast of Africa and roost the same eight upon the American shore, Whether this is a fanthos not yet been conclusively determined, but it is certain that this bird is the swiftest of winged oreaturea, and is able to fly, under favourable couditiooe,two hundred miles en hour, In Berlin there are several electrical victories run by storage batteries, and guided by a man who site in the driver's seat. In Paris there are also three or four steam and electrical carriages whioh are permitted by the authorities to travel over the streete. They apparently work with smoothness and certainty, roll along swiftly, and only frighten a few horses. In New York city there are two electric carriages which occasionally arouse the sightseers on Fifth avenue and in Central park, but there is no general demand for convey. owes of this hind.. M. Girard, chief of the Paris munici- pal laboratory, in late researuhea concern- ing the bacilli of cholera and typhoid fever, has once more proved the efficacy of aside in destroying microbes. He finds citric sold to he the most useful and powerful of all. One gramme, he says, added to a quart of tainted water, will destroy all the microbes that may be in it. Consequently, he recom- mends the Dae of natural lemonade 0e ad excellent beverage at all times, and espec- ially during epidemics. If necessary, a littlebicarbonate of soda can be added ea a means of neutralizing the acidity of th lemon. Old World News. Af, Sottueider, the headof the great Crouse!) was married the other day 10 Parte, Cr1u130 hoe grown in alxty years from a village of 000 inhabitants to a town of 30,000 people—larger than Krttpp'e town of Eason. a eB l io o e t the a tt tooun Ramie. r 1l a Ri I o,5s with the B►aek Sea, 4acor i g torep ent report, The river% Dnieper and Dwina aro to be joined by a canal ; surveying has begun at the ends of bhe route and (Amnion is spoken of as the harbor for the canal on the Black Sea, The merohaob tailors of Grata, Siberia, have sent a petition to the authorities of the university, reeking that hereafter no student shall receive* diploma until he Mee proved that he hap. paid his tailor bills. Some of the M e:dente say that this is a deadly blow at the higher eduoatfoa 01 young men. w • Kempen, In Germany, will soon oelo, brace bhe nix hundredth anniversary of Its exietenoe with a festival procession repre- senting the history of Germany from the German warriors of Caesar's time to the soldiers who fought against Napoleon. In the prom:mien will be represented Thomas a Kerne-As, the writer of the "Imitation of Christ,' who woo a native of the town. To what extent Spain is still under the influence of mediaeval lows and restriotione which hamper les progress and develop.. ment may be gathered from the fact that among other imposts which the taxpayer is called upon to pay ie that entitled "Tho erusado," which was originally instituted for the purpose of providing funds for the Concedes, and which has remained in ex- istence ever since. Ila proceeds: are now applied to the repair of churches, the pay- ment of the atipende of the clergy, and other ecclesiastical porpoise. The facts in iegard to prehietoria man are increasing almost every day. Among the latest finds are some ivory statuettes, or parte of statuettes, and bones, among the cinder of an ancient cave dwelling of Quaternary age, at Braaeembourg, in the Landes of France. These relics have now been examined by MM. Edouard Piette and Jean de laporbiore, and decided to be remains of the rhinoceros, mammoth, aureola horse, and cave hyena, the figures being rather rude effigies of the people who were contemporary with these, in moat cases, extinct animals. THE SAD FATE That Was Met by the Affectionate Yea eectt. Some years ago I paid a visit to a friend who rented a cottage on Hughenden Manor, where the late Earl of Beaconsfield reared the celebrated white peacocks, which he ultimately begueatked to Queen Victoria. Soon after my arrival my friend, who was confined to her couch by a spinal affection, amid: "I expect ,gentleman to tee. at6 o'clock; would you please set the door ajar, for he cannot open it himself." 1 thought this Strange, but made no remark. The sitting room was approaohed by a long, narrow paeaags, sad presently—the tea service being laid—we heard the tap, tap of a regular tread approaching the room. Then followed a decided jab at the door, mod in swept a magnificent peacock. No wonder, thought I, that in the early ages of chivalry the most solemn oath was taken on the peacock. Our visitor walked straight to my friend, lookingaround as if in search of something. She produced some fruit and cake, which he ate out Iter hand, and then pecked up some crumbaaoaked in milk from.a saucer on the floor, I put forth my hand to caress him upon which he raised himself ou his toes and uttered a shrill cry, repudiate Mg all my blandishments vigorously. 'In the same manner he came every even- ing, remaining about half en hour. His aliection for hie hostess was evident, but 1 never got beyond his toleration. Two months afterward my friend left Hughenden. Subsequently she wrote me: "Poor Ralph ie dead. Thatebttpid game- keeper never tet him into the cottage nor fed him in the evening, as he promised me to do. I hear from the little' maid you re- member that the poor bird refused to eat and would lie for hours beneath the win- dow, uttering n0casionally a plaintive cry. At night he pereioted in roosting in the cedar tree in the cottage lawn. Becoming too weak to fly upward, he lay among the bushes in the dew, and was one morning found dead." littngina ton Beaus inti Without 'Stood— Besotted Aleve—A Strange Story Fron. Montreal A despatch from Montreal, Saye:—At an early hour Monday morning an aged man was picked up from under the. long wharf'. in a semi-conscious condition and thorough. ly exhausted. Upon investigation it was ascertained that the man, a week ago last Saturday had fallen from the long wharf, and as he neverrose to the surface, It was though he was drowned. It now appears he was an excellent swimmer, and after muoh trouble swam directly under the wharf, where he hung to some of the arose - beams, and there remained for six days and six nights without provieions. Ho had a little, however, to eat, being able, by holding on by one hand to the wharf, to, grab w iib the other rotten fruit or vegetable, meat or fish, with which he managedto keep himself up until rescued. Messrs, Favreau, Demers and Gauthier says that they were present when the man was taken from the water, but they do not know his name. Misplaced Emphasis. A gentleman who spent a summer in small village in Maine tells bow a kind. hearted woman, without the slightest idea of making hien ridiculous, gave his Moeda and fellow -boarders a chance for a hearty' laugh at his expense. We had haddock for supper ono night, and happening to be peculiarly hungry,I ate heartily of it, bub' unfortunately swallowed a bone. One of the young wo- tnen of the family endeavored to comfort me by saying that no harm would ever come from a fishbone, as it would dissolve of itself. ` Mee. H, had been observing me anxious, ly, and now spoke. "-Don't be too sure about that," she Said ; "I think yen ought to take something right away, Mr. 8,, for we boat a hog once by his getting a dolt bone in hls throat," The Chinese Plague Bacillus Dr. Yertin, a pupil of the Pasteur In stitute in Paris, claims to have discovered thebacillus of the Chinese plague. His diagnosis corresponds with that given by Defoe of the plague which decitnated Lon- don in the reign of Charles IL According to Dr. Yerain, the period of incubation is short—from four to five days. The malady rune its fatal course within twenty-four hours after it declares itself, unless within that time its virulence abates. Sometimes there are many "blind" boils, but more 'of- ten one only. The fever is coot venom and accompanied by delirium: 1f there is im- provement within twenty-four hours, the boil soften and breaks on the fifth or sixth day. Dr. Mersin lived for weeks among plague - stricken Chinese. He found by poet -mor- tem examinations, that the bacillus was lo• oalized in the boil, the liver, and the spleen. He found it but rarely in the blood and in these few eases the germs were not num- mous, Mice inooulated wibh the virus died in twentyfour hours, while guinea - pigs died some in three days, some in nix days after inoculation. A rat died in five days. The minrobe can be easily cult' vat, ed in gelatine, to which it gives a uniform white surface. A Willing Meroury. Fleet Boyy" Wot's the rush 1" Second Boy—" I heard pa invite an old friend to dinner, and I'm hurryin' home to tell mamma." Dill v'r father send yah 5' "Then wet you runnin' y'rself to death for Z" "'Cause, if mamma knows company is cumin', we'll have a better dinner." Cardinal Lavigerie'a plan for the civil izabion of Africa is to be tested. The first. caravan of 100 African pioneers reared on the Algerian and Tunisian forme on the confraternities founded by him have just left Marseilles for Madagascar, where they are to nettle es agricultural colonists. Another hundred will be sect as soon as these are established, and other oompaniea are under orders to go to the Soudan, the Touareg country, the Tahad region, and the Cocgo, whore they will spread the Catholic feitli and French civilization. A Chinese, theotrioal company has ar- rived in France. It is formed of the play- ers layera in ordinary of the Emperor of China. The Barnum who presents these Celestial comedians to the playgoiog world of Europe is a Chinese merchant named Chong Beng, who carrles on a large trade with Marseilles. Contrary to what has been written in many publications about China, the stage women are not boys, but actual women. There are in the Chong Beug Company twenty, seven actors and five actresses. These Celestials are bound for Antwerp. LAND GRANTS IN NEW ZELAND. Men and Women Over 17 Entitled to Take Adv:m loge %ref. New Zealand is making surprisingad- vancos. in the system of land grants and loans to settlers with little or no capital. The late Premier, Mr. Ballance,wes credit- ed with entertaining a gigantic scheme involving a capital of $150,060,000, but the measures actually proposed by the present Government are much more modest. 87,- 500,000 is to be raised in the old country $8,7.0,000 locally by Colonial consols and other means. The sixteen million odd dollars realized will be applied to the ex- tension of the system of towns to settlere. already in foram The scheme was started six or seven years ago, and there are now 900 settlers holding. 22,677 acres of land under its provisions. The settlers never obtain actual p0aseesion of the land, but pay 5 per cent. of its capitalized value asa perpetual rent. Small loans aro advanced to them on the security of the improvements on their fame, and the interest on tite loans fs added to the rent. In this way over $123,000 has been advanced, and the yearly payments of rent and interest now amount to about $60,000. Of this total over 610,000 was in arrear—rather a considerable amount in proportion to the whole, and almost enough to deter a cautions Govern- ment from proceeding further. Bub the Naw Zealanders are apparently well enough satisfied with the success of the policy to extend it further. A careful valuation has been made of the improvements effeoted by the settlers, and it is estimated that they are worth $185,000 more than the $123,000 advanced by the Government to enable them to be mune, This gives the Govern- ment fair security for the loans and it is also getting $52,000 in the way of rent for lands which night otherwise be un000u pied. Hitherto advances of this kind have Leen limited to farms of not more than 50 acres and worth not less than 85 au acre, and it is now proposed to extend the system 'to pastoral land, Men and women over 17 are entitled to take advantage of it under conditions of, residence, improve menta, etc., which are easily fulfilled by bona fide setters. Western Australia and Victoria are promoting settlement of a somewhat similar character Large as a Dollar 'Were the scroftda•sores on my poor little boy, .sickening and disgusting.. They were espe,. dally severe pn his lege, back of his ears and on his head. Ills hair en. so matted that combing was sometimes impossi- Ide. His legs were so bad that somotimos ho ' ',could not sit down, attd when he tried to walk his legs would craolt Jos. Ruby. open and the blood start. Pliysicfans did not elfe0t a cure. I deckled to give him Hood's Sarsapa- 01110. In two weeks the sores commenced to heal up; the scalescameoto and all over leis body new and healthy flesh and shin formed, When lie had taken two bottles of Hood's Sarsaparilla he was entirely frog from sores.. 1,llt19IG hear, Ilox 1556, Columbkt, Pennsylvania. HOOD'S PILLS aro a mod, gentle, enttneos, onto and or Int cathartic. Always reliable. 710,