Loading...
Exeter Times, 1898-9-8, Page 71 CASTING AWAY MRS. LECKS AND MRS. ALESIIINE. r (Continued,) "If you'd talked Inlet way limit nig Mrs. Leeks," exclaimed Mrs. Aleshi never slept till 'after sun -up, thee got up and gone huntinrou among them frocks and petticoats find somethin' that; would, fit me, w the quiet pulse, I did have, Mrs. Leek To this remark Mrs. Leeks made reply, but, rising, she led the way of the kitchen and into the house. The rooms on the first floor w very well furnished. There wa large parlor, and back of it a study library, while on the other side a hall, was a dining -room; and an apa emelt probably used, as a family TOO We found nothing in these wle would indicate that anything un ward had happened in them. Then went upstairs, I leading the way, M Lecke following, and Mrs. Aleshine the rear. We firstenterecl one of t front chambers, which was quite da but Mrs, Leeks unfastened and thr open a shutter. Then, with a ri countenance and determined mein, s examined. every part of the roo looked into every closet, and even u der the bed. It was quite plain th it was in cane of the chambers th she expected to find what had b,appe ed, if anything had happened. , The room on the other side of t hall was very like the one we first e anained, except that it had two be in it. We next visited the chamb recently occupied by my two compa ions, which was now undergoing t process of 'airing." "We needn't stop here," remark Mrs. Aleshine, But Mrs. Leeks i stantly replied, "Indeed, we will st goin' to look under the bed." "Merciful mei" exclaim.ed Mrs. Al shine, putting her hand on her friend shoulder. "Supposin' you should fin somethine' and we sleepin' here la night! It curdles me to think it 1" "It's my duty," said Mrs. Leeks se erely, "and I shall , do it." And do it she did, rising frem tie task with a sigh of relief. My room was subjected to the sam scrutiny as the others; and then visited some smaller rooms at thee trem.e back of the house, which we ha not before noticed. A garret or lot was reached by a steep stairway 1 one ,,af these rooms, and into its dusk gloom I ventured by inyself. "Now, don't come down, Mr:Craig, said Mrs. Leeks, "till you're sur there's nothin• there. Of all places i the house that cock -loft, after all, i the most likely." I had none of the fears which seem ed to actuate the two women, but had a very unpleaamt time of it, grop ing about in, the darkness and heat and, as the place was only partly floor ed, running the continual risk of crash ing, clown through the lath and plas ate.e. I made myself quite sure, haw ever, that nothing had happened i filet loft unless some one had suffocat ed there, and had dried up and becom the dust which I raised at every, step "Now, then," said Mrs. Leaks, when I descended, "as there is no cellar we'll ga wash up the breakfast things and if you want to take a walk, to see if there's any genuwine heathens or anybody else a-livin' in this island we're not afraid -to be left alone." M Leeks and Aleshine For the whole of the rest of the morning I wandered about the island. it was fair and right to do that before I investigated the paths that I bad speakin' to you, and hearin' what you before noticed, and found that each had. to say on one side or another of of them led, after a moderate walk, it. Mrs. Aleshine and me has to bow to some wide and pleasaiat part of the our heads to afflictions, and to walk - beach. At one of these points I found in' sometimes in road.s we didn't want a rustics bench; and, stuffed in be- to, but we've remembered the ways in tween two of the slats which formed which we was brought up, and kept the seat, I found a book. It had been in them as far as we've been able. sadly wet and discolored by rain, and When our husbands died, leavin' 1V1rs. dried and curled up by the wind and, Aleshine with a son, and me without sun. I pulled it out and found it to any, which, perhaps, is just as well, be a novel in French. On one of the for there's no knowin' how he might Ely leaves was written "Emily." Rea- have turned ont----" cloning from the dilapidated appear- '" That's so," interrupted Mrs. Ale - Ince of this book, I began to believe shine, "for he might have gone as a tlaat the family must have left this clerk to Roosher, and then you and nee place some tine- ago, wad that, there- would 'a' had to travel different fore, their reburn might be expected at ways." a proportionately early period. On sec- "And when our husbands died," con - and thoughts, however, I considered tieued Mrs. Leeks, "they left us en - thee the state of this book was of lit- ough, and plenty, to live on, and we Ile value as testimony. A few hours wasn't the watn:en to forget them and • of storm, wind, and sun, might havein- their ways of thinkin', any more than flictea all the damage it had sustained. we'd forget of our fathers and moth- • The two wornein. would be better able ers before us." to judge by the state at the house "That's so 1" said Mrs. Aleshine, fer- y. end the condition of the provisions vently. how long the family had been away. "And now, Mr. Craig," continued I how etarted out on a walk along 1VIrs. I,ecks, "we don't know how you Dee beach, and in little more than an 've been brought up, nor anything hour I had gone entirely around. the about you; in fact, except that you've Island. Nowhere did I see any sign of been as kind to us as it you was some ,habitation, or oceapation, except at the sort of kin, and that we never would house which had given us shelter, nor have thought of comin' here without. lily opening through the surrounding you; and so me and Mrs. Aleshine has seat, except the barred. passage -way agreed to leave this whole matter to through which we had come. you, and to do just as you say. When When I retuthed to the house, as two started out on this long jeur- km114 that Mrs' Leaks and. Mts.. Ale- neY, we didn't expect to find it what thine had been hard at work all the you call the path of roses, and dear nothing. They had, so to speak,' gone only knows, we haven't found it so.' ,•egularly and systematically to house- "That's teue 1" ejaculated 1VIrs, Ale- ceeping, and had already divided the shine. labors of the establishment between "And what we've had to put up them, Mrs, Aleshine who prided her- with," continued'IVIrs. Leeks, "we have telf on her skill in culinary matters, put up with. And so, Mr. Craig, whe- was to take charge of the cooking, thole' you say dinner in -the middle of while Mrs. Leeks assumed the care of the day at twelve, as we've always been the various rooms and the general mart- used to, or at six o'clock to the after - agement a the household. This ar- noon, tie they had it on hoard that ehip, length ; and when I remarked that all their meals hi rangement was explained to me at --,and how peoupalepuelyteLrineeminoest1ointtuhaa'rti this seemed to indicate that they ex- way, I can't say,—weutop do peacd. to remain here for a long time, ; and if you've beenarlearggit Mrs. Leeks replied: to six o'clock, you won't hear no coin- " part of the country could plainin' from us, think what we ma.y." tell pretty cloee, by the Mist on the was on the point of laughing aloud tables .and ori the top of the planner, at the conclusion of this speech, but. a how long family has been out of a glance' at the, serious faces of the two house, but dust in Pennsylvany and even -late who, with, muth earnest dust on a sea island, where tbere's no solicitude, awaited my rePlY, stopped ewrialg.°Inlasir hrouCsaerrhiaagse,teeins Iritteindifvfee4. ndine'nnenrclini lithae8traelliedddlie'4orthreedtahymwothuladt good. order, and though the windows be entirely in aecorclance with my ev- wan he washin', and the floors and stairs er,y wish. 'bruslan'—which will be easy consider- oletvrtyhtahfinrigortine tohfe h'eomusehaueroeagiipluertsp-feaunud- ee:sG°sp°acisi•ai'llnxgelaairtainiedd tiia plumpness of in' up and Mein', it may be that the ih-eellieffapella'ssNevdhiolevearritheexPfreeastsuirotterie. of calm °Marinas, family hasn't been gone away very Lecke. andaeo may be a good white before they come back , again, l‘trs. thin' to eat in less than no time," said " And now I'll be off and get es clone:- LtAuly\livien,%artnclateeuhpa,80:Litlallkneind.alat tabliatovtehro, tIVIbieer. tAolertiebaileg, "We it Iantdlidno'it, kaninoislv6rwthit right ibing do is just to go along we had aeen you ; so you Oan't OXPsst and attend to thinete as if we Was se much feeday, 13t1 t to.n1 orr OW W6111 be- goibg to stey lietea for a month or two; and ie may he even loeger than filet ht before the people come back. And I ne, don't think they'll have anything to eomplain of when they find their house rid in, apple-pie order, their' windows wash - to their Beers clean, and not a speak ah of dirt anywhere." se, "Far my part," said Mrs. Aleshine, no " I don't see what they've got to find me fault; with anyway. I look on this as part of the patisage. To be sure, we ere ain't"enovin' a bit on our way to Japan, s bet that's not ray fault, nor yet yours, or Kra. Leeks, nor yours, Mr. Craig. We the Paid Our passage to go to Japan, and rt- if the ship was steered wrong, and got m. sunk, we hadn't anything to do with ka it. We deseet want to come here, but to- here we are, and I'd like to know who's we got any right to find fault with us." re. "And beim' here," said Mrs. Leeks, "we'll take eare of the thengs." he " As far as I'm, concerned," added rk, Mrs. Aleshine, "if this island was mew - see in• on to Japan, I'd a great deal rather gid he on it than on that ship, where, to he my way of thinkine they didn't know m, much more about housekeepin• than 33... they did about steerina" at "I think your plans and arrange - at 'meats are very good," I said. "But ee how about the provisions? Are there enough to hold out for any time?" he " Therces pretty nigh, a barrel of a_ flour," said Mrs. Aleshine, "a good deal es of tea and coffee and sugar, and lots er of things in tins and ja.rs. There's a n. kind of cellar outside where they keep he things cool, and there's more than half a keg of butter down there. It's too ed strong to use, but I den take that but- n- ter and wash it out, and work it over, op and salt it, and make it just as good butter as any • we got on board the ee ship," ' 's "I3ut," said "you have given nee d nothing to do. I shall not be content se to stand about idle and see you do all of the work." " There's nothin" inethe house,' said v- Mrs. Leeks, "which yara need put your hand to; but, if you choose to go out e into that garden, a.nd see ii there's anything can be done in it, or got e out of it,—that is, if you know any - 'e thing about gavden work,—Pm, sure x- we'd be very glad of any fresh vege- d tables we could get." - t I replied that I had been accustomed n to garden work in an amateur way, y and. would be glad to do anything that was possible in that direction. " "I never seed into that garden," said e Mrs. Aleshine, "but of all the foolish n things that came under my eye, the s buildin' a wall around a garden, when a pale fence would do just as well, is - the foolishest," I I explaihed that in these countries - it was the fashion to use walls instead , of fences. - "If it's the, fashion," said Mrs. Ale- - shine, "I suppose, there's no use say- - anything agin it; but if the fash- - 1.9,n should happen to change, they'd n find it a good -deal easier to take down - a barbed-wire fence than a stone wall." e This conversation took place in the , large lower hall which *is. Leeks had been "putting to rights,' . and where , Mrs. Aleshine had just entered from ; the kitchen. Mrs. Lacks now sat down Upon a chair, and, dust -cloth in hand, she thus addressed me: , "There's another thing, Mr. Craig, that me and Mrs. Aleshine has _been talkie' about. We haven't made up our nainds about it, because we didn't think comfortable, I'm 'te get Up ear - 10 the morein' and bake a batch of bread; and you needn't be afraid, Mr, Craig, hilt what I'll have you e- hit of hot meat every night for your csuP- Per," 111 the afternoon we all visited the garden, which although a good deal °evdelgerzelecvsnovtiitf;!atill,u exuairtijavtas ttitanveedsso,resheowei the beds had been cleared out and left to the weeds, and we found some "gar- den truck," as my companione called it, with which we were not familiar. 134tth tpreuriet, wpictornetyto(rbteon nvsin,efs various kixids, and a large pateh of potatoes, Many of which had been dug. Prom, the lower end of the garden, IVErs. lieshiae gave a sheet of delight. eV'e went to her, and found her steed- ing before a long asparagus bed. " Well!" she exclaimed. f/ there's anything that settles it firm in my gmrianscs1.,t,hat these people is Christians there ever was heathens that growed We this bed of. grass. I don't believe "1 thoeght that was all settledwhen i‘ef,ero.eorweeceks.tae eakin powders," said cem"Bpamtnitohni.s ciiitaccal0st teli fainosmweraedsphaerr. rowgrass bed what church they be- long to, but they're no idolaters." The next morning I delivered to the genial Mrs. Aleshine a large basket full of fresh vegetables, and we had, most excellent dinner. Someerhet to ray earprise, the table was not eat in the kitchen, but in the dinning -room. "Me and Mrs. Aleshine .have made up our minds," said Mrs. Leeks, in ex- planation, "that it's not the• proper thing for you to be eatin' in the kit- chen, nor for us neither. Here's table -cloths, and good glass and china, and. spoons and forks, which, although they're not solid silver, are plated good enough for anybody. Neither you nor us is servants, and a kitchen is no place for us." "That's sol" said Mrs. Aleshine. "We paid our none e for first-class pass- e es d it g , an was understood that we'd have everything as good as anybody." "Which I don't see as that has any- thing to do with it, 13arb'ry Ale - shine," said Mrs. Leeks, "for the steamship people don't generally throw in deeert islands as part of theeaccom- =iodation." "We didn't ask for the island," re- torted Mrs. Aleshine, "and if they'd steered the ship right, we should n't have wanted it." When we had finished our dinner, Mrs. Leeks pushed back her chair, and sat for a few moments in thought, as was her wont before saying anything of importance:" "There's another thing," said she, "that I've been thinkin' about, though I haven't °spoke of it yet, even - to Mrs. Aleslaine. We haven't no right to come here and eat up the viccuels and use the things of the people that own this house, without paying for them. Of course, we're not goire to sleep on the bare ground and starve to death tvlaile there's beds and food close to our hands. But if we use 'em and take it, we ought to pay the people that the. eplace belongs to— that is, if we've got the monety to do it with; and Mrs. Ale-sleet:le and me has got the money. When we went down into our cabin to get ready to leave the ship, the first thing we did was to put our purses in our pockets, and we've both got drafts wrapped up in oil silk, and sewed inside our Ifrock- bodies; and if you didn't think to need." your money along with you, Mr. Craig, we can lend you. all you I thanked her for her offer, but stat- ed that I had brought with me all my money. "Now," continued Mts. Leeks, "it's mi opinion that we ought to pay our board regular every week. I don't know what is commonly charged in a place like this, bet I know you can get very good board where I come from for six dollars a week." "That is for two in a room," said Mrs. „Aleshine; "but havin' a room to himself would make it more for Mr. Graig." "It' ain't his fault," said lYfes.Lecks, somewhat severely, "that he ain't got a brother or some friend t otake part of the room and pay part of the ex- pense. But, anyway, the room isn't a large one, and I don't think he ought to pay much more for havin' a room to himself. Seven dollars is quite enough," "Bui then you've got to consider,' said Mrs Aleshine, "that we do the cookin' and housework, and that ought, to be counted." "I was cumin' to that," said Mrs, Leeks. "Now-, if me and 1VIrs. Aleshine was to go out to service, which you may be suxe we would n't do unless circtunstances was very different from what they are now---" "That's true!" earnestly ejaculated Mrs. Aleshine. "But if we, wore to do it,' continued Mrs. Leeks, "we would ret go into any- body's family for less than two dollars a, week, Now, I've always heard that ways is love in thbs part of the world, and the week is nit heavy for Iwo of us; and so, considering the family is n't here to make their, own bargain, I think we'd better put our wages at that, so that al make font - dollars a week for eaoh of us two. to Pee." "But how about Mr. Craig?" said Mrs. Aleshine. "He ought n't to work in that garden for nothina" "Fifty cents a day," said Mrs. Lecke, "is as little as any man w'ould work for, and then it ought n't to take all his time, That will make three dol. lars to take out of Mr. Craig's hoard, and leave it four dollars a week, the same as ours."' I declared myself' perfectly satisfied with these arraeigernents, bat' Mrs. AIeshine did not seem to be altogether convinced that they were just, "When a woman goes oat to ser - Vice " said she, "she ..gets her board and Is paid wages besides, and. it's the same for gardenere," "That I atippoce, Barb'ry 'Aleehine," mid IVErs. Leeks, "that we ought to ()barge these people with our wages, and make 'one pay when they ewes back 1" This remark apparently disposed of 1VIrs. Alethine's objections, and her friend continued; "There's a jar on the mantel -piece there, of the kind of East Indy ginger eomes Ites got nothin' in it but some brown paper, in which fish -hooka '118 wrapped. We came here on it Wednesday, and so every Tuesdey night we'll ettelt put four dollars in that jee, under' the Bela -hook paper; end then if, by night gin, and ba,6 everv,thing straight aga or by dey,the family comes baeldencl 17 - ago The ere L, -//,''?"--ere'e! et oesseeeseseeV-ateseetses- 5. - eases • Prince of Wales, Whose Injured Knee Prevents Him From Stand- ing, Viewing the Cowes Regatta From the Royal Yacht. is free." we have to say as, 'The board knoneY's • ..,,- in the ginger -jar,' and our consciences makes a fuss about our bein' here all PRINCE OF WALES' INCOME. Some Interesting Statistles of 1118 Flunk - very just and proper one, and at the Mrs. Lecks's plan vvas adopted as a dal "watra" Much has been said of late cdneern- exPiration of the week we each de- ing the inc,omes of H. R. H. the Prince posited four dollars in the ginger -jar. of Wales( I' would be as well to state • While occupying this house I do not the exact figures think that any of us endeavored to ' Since 1863 the Prince of Wales has pry into the private concerns of the family wbo owned it, although we drawn £40000 a year from the Con - each had a very natural curiosity to solidated Fiend. The largeit source of know something aboat said family. the Prince's income however are the Opportunities of acquiring such know- ' ' ' revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall. ledge, however, were exceeding- ly scarce. Even U we had been will- This property, which was first grant- ing to look into such receptacles, the ed to the Black Prince, eldest son of several sleeks and seeretaries that the Edward era, in 1337, on the under - house contained were all locked; and nowhere could Mrs. Leeks or Mr a Ale- standing that in default of male issue shine find an ' old letter or piece oe the revenues should revert to the sov- wrapping-paper with aix address on it areign, was only worth in the time I explained to my companions that of William III£.9 000, sinktn' g as low letters and packages were not likely to come to a, place like this, but they as £2,000 in the reign of Queen. Anne. kept a eharp lookout for anything of Under the WISE) management ef the the kind, asserting that there could be Prince Consort, the duchy so prospered. of the people whose house they that the aceumulations of the Prince's were in. t minority amounieni to £601,791, or, ac - no poesilale 'ham in reading the names some of, the books in the library, carding to Sir Charles Dilke, £743,000. which were English and French in Out of this sum £220,000 was laid out in the purchase of Sandringham, an about equal proportions, with a few volumes in Gernxan, 1 found written on the blank pages the names "Emily" and "Lucille," and. acmes the title - pages of some French histories was in- scribed, in a manes hand, "A. Dus- ante." We discussed these names, but could not make up our minds whether the family was French or English. For inetance, there was no reason why an FngUh woman alight not be called • jeustarteii ebuofid8u,Og7.9 acres, and the balance The income of the Duchy of SCorn- wall was last year £57,733 14s. 6d., in addition to £16,216, an annual sum paid by the country as compensation for the abolition of certain ancient dues on the tin coinage and in lieu of past groats and white rents. The total ucille, and even euoh a surname as revenue of the duchy is therefore £73,- Dusente was not uncommon either 949 14s. 6d. The prince is also colonel among English or Americans. The of the 10th Hussars, an honorary post labels on the boxes and tins of provis- ions showed that most of them came from San Franeisco, but this was like- ly to be the ea e, no matter what the nationality of the fatally. To be continued. 1-1,000TH OFA SECOND. orth £1,35Q a year. On the prince's marriage he was voted £23,455 to de- fray the expenses, and the Princess Alexandra £10,000 a year, to be in- creased to £30,000 ita the event of her surviving him. When the Prince visit- ed India in 1875 the nation gave him £142,000 towards his expenses, stipu- lating that R69,000 of this should be expended on presents. The Prince of Wales has undertaken by a recent act The acme of precision has appctren;. Meaeured and Recorded by a Clock Willa Vernler and Camera Attooliments. sum of .436,000 a year voted aniaually to provide for his children out of a sboYI dPagia.mtheent.QueSeonmelfirekars Rsainucre ahue ly been reached by a Berlin clockmaker estate he inherited from his father, named Lobner, who has just perfected for, it is said, £120,009. The Prince mechanism for measuring and record- lives rent free at Marlborough House, ing .the thousandth part of a second. It consists of a clock mounted on a Paying neither rent, rates, nor taxes, The repairs, which are defrayed by the country, amounted last year to 42,000 naovable carriage. The dial plate is 13s. 6d. When. he visits the Continent three metres in dictmeter. At the edge ELS a. rule, to £140, are defrayed the expenses of the passage, amount - of the dial Plate are two concentric by the country. rings, the outer marked with 300 de- , ?'he Prince is patron of twenty-two grees and the nner divided int200 livings, worth £7,638, and his total. io parts. The clockwork moves a single hand at the rate of five complete turns in a second, thus enabling the 1,000th part of a second to be read on the in- ner ring. The instrument would be ruined by stepping the hand suddenly and the eye could not follow the point- er; as a photographic) apparatus is used. to record the time. Twelve open cam- eras are arranged in a eirele behind a revolving disk' two metres in diamet- er, which is provided with a hole ad- mitting light to the plates as it passes before them. The disk revolves twenty timee a second, so that light is admit- ted to twelve plates, one after the oth- er, in the space of one -twentieth of a second. The pictures thereby obtained show the potations of the hand on the dial and the object which is being ob- served, The apparatus is useful for measuring the speed of bullets, tail- ing objeets, etc. It is possible to take 2,880 photographs in a second. 6'01:VIABLE THER1VIOMETERS, One' of the latest charms is a tiny circular thermometer, its base a me- tal button, so it can be thrust through the buttonhole of a coat lapel. The mercury follows a smell coil of glass, etround svhich the degrees of heat or cold are numbered. These thermome- ters are too tiny to be objeetionable fa appearance, and one can trirti back one's coat lapel and compare degrees of temperature with the man Or Wo- man who claims it is the hottest (layof the season, with corresponding cern- fort to one's self-esteem. If some in- ventive genius watilcl only perfeet an etreasegement by which the uteroury could be kept at the highest. point nil - tit it has been exhibited al, the subur- ban home,s in the evening bo the for - timate dwellers it those shad y re- treats it would Meet with seen, great - or preeiatio [DOOMS is £1'74,293 a year. Last year the Duke of York drew as a naval cap- tain, with full, half -pay, and allow- ances, £m 13s. 9c1. The ex -Empress of Germany, Princess Royal of Eng - and, has a pension from England of £8,000. On the occasion of her mar- riage 440,000 was voted as a dowry and £5,000 for fitting up the Chapel Royal for the wedding, the expenses of which amounted to £20,000. Till Tag year the country has also defrayed the expenses of trips to this country, but the alieistry of the year 1894 declar- ed that for the future all members of the royal family would defray their own expenses, with the exception of the Queen and the Prince of Wales. SAVE TIIE COAL. To ;make half a ton of coal go as B2 - teen hundred -weight place a, quan- tity of eha,lle in the grates, Once heated this is praotice,Ily inexhaustible from combust'ion, and gives out great heat. Place the chalk at Ile back of each of yout fires in nearly equal. pro- portions -with the coal. Full eatisfac- Lion will be felt both as to the cheer- fulne.ss and as to the warmf,h of the fire, and the &wing throughout the winter will be at the rate of 25 per cent. IIE SUPPLIED AN EXAMPLE, It i8 very odd how names beceme attaeleicl to articles, eald Ms Me - :Bride meditatively. Now, Vienta, 'stead for example, does not come from .Ans- trice True onOugh, replied. M.r. Melatide, Who bola up &produce, of hie wife'e celinary effort, 'and 1'believe you called th nee 'light' rolls awhile ago, • IS COST OF WAR. EUROPEAN WARS OF FIRST HAL OF THIS CENTURY. Sinle0;:teirer.'seis and Figures 4:lieut E ItPeis"taluw7;:w7inletYoa:talitet:et"eitoes ahead. This is practicable in alraoe everything but war. The wet at wax is a eerious problem, witli a two fold iraport in money and human life its tWin powers. Tradition and histor consist almost entirely of waa's, -battle and olaughter, for as far back as w Gate peer into the mists of antiquity w find that man has been killing and be ing killed, and the death roll of th iintsircacesnsanotnssittryu.ggle confounds the reas on and overpowers the imagination b Commencing with the Trojan war the first chapter of European and Asia tie history it is estimated that "glor • ious war" has dlaimed as his mead 40, 000,000 human beings a century. Th estimated waste of human life in Fur ope alone everages between 18000,00 and 20,000,000 souls a century. Three thousand years may have elapsed since the battle raged around the walls o Troy, and in that time probably the almost inconceivable number of 1,200,- 000,000 naen have perished in order to enforce sundry systems of politics, to decide the ownership of some few mulesUquaerseof land. Or to avenge the wounded pride of a, ruler or of a rul- ingtat If every man, woman and child now living on this planet were massed to - sides were ranged all the dead who perished an a odinwvaaer, tthpolatietw,oafnodroebsy would an nearly equal one another. If every human being on the march were struck down to -morrow by some dreadful plague, the loss would, be no more than that which the weapons of the soldier have accomplished in the past. A TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER. In the lvars of the last centsery no less than twenty million men wete kill- ed, and at least as many women and children bereaved and desolate. The European wars of the first half a this century slew twenty-five hundred thousand raen at a cost of e6,850,000,- 000. The great exhibition of 1851. was supposed to mark the commencement of the era of peace and progress. It was seriously expected that when men had once been prevailed upon to meet together in friendly and peaceful riv- alry they would no longer draw the sword against each other. But the exhibition, instead of mark- ing the beginning of the reign of peace, may more truly be said to have mark- ed its close. The Crimean War broke ou.t ere the exhibition had ceased to be talked about, and the Indian mutiny quickly followed. Then came the Chin- ese war, the Franco -Italian, the Amer- ican civil, the Austro -Prussian, and the, Franco-German war. England is not extravagant, compared with other Powers, in railitary matters, but one- third of the national revenue is spent in preparing for war, one-third in pay- ing for past wars and only one-third in actually governing- the coantry. NEVER SO MANY 'UNDER ARMS. In 1869 the European peace armies munbered 2,200,000 men; to -day they number 4,100,000. In 1869 Europe spent 8117,000,000 on her armies and navies; to -day she spends nearly 4240,- 000,000. Never in the history of civilization were there more men under arms, and never was there a. more general and genuine sbrinking from the idea of wax. So multiplied and matured have become the means of destruction, so great are the risks that ,will be involv- ed and so unntanaga.ble are the opera- tions which the vastness of the armies, now swollen beyond, all magnitude, will impose upon their generals, that sover- eigns and statesmen responsible for war may well hesitate before bringing about an explosion. Np statesman wish- es for war, yet all are increasing their preparations for war. nAd probably the best guarantee for peace is the preparations for war. And probably state of things cannot last forever. War is a great but may be a neces- sary evil. To liberate the Soudan frOM the cruel bloody war of the Mahn is only possible by means of the bayonet; Cuba was only freed from Spanish mis- rule by force. The world is in a state of armed peace, and things must be worse betore they can be better. No nation will pro- pose voluntary disarmament, and un - until all the nation e agree to disband their armies and navies, the present state of things must inevitably con- tinue. And the railleenium—that time when nation shalt no longer lift up sword against nation, when the lien Shall lie down with the lamb—should it ever arrive, will only be ushered in, it has been predicted, by a universal war, with desolation and carnage the like of whic,h the world has never before seen. COCIE.IleiG IN MEXICO. As all cooking is done with (ther- eon t and ovens are practically unknown in private houses very deur families bake bread. /The small, hercl-erueted loaves Of French bread are !delivered all over the city in, great basketfour Ifeet acmes that are carried on the heads Of cargedares. A good Mexican cook 'relieves the mistress olf the house all worry tied responsieility in e rter tha,t is almost unknown in this eountry. fthe cOok is given eo much a clay, and with this amount she will piir- ohase etteh morning all Ole provielene Of the day, including even the staples ehile to sot the servants' table besides. Whey ean really do better ii,han their mistresses, beeause they can utmally drive sharper bargains witix the mar- ket men Of their awn chess, and they have nleve patience to haggle over the last penny. HIS ANSW(ER Sapsinith feeritimentallye—WItat is sadder than to haVe loved and lest? Ilennypeck (premptly) To hale loved and got,ber, PERSONAL POINTERS. Netts or leftmost About Some Ur the People or the aftered, .11se new Prince Bitaintirele Is said to he a Man of very violent teaaPer an4 haughty in the extremes. 1,3nariKooesiriko.,0AB'f.A3oll! j33711-f.°G11,11.ahda'stsognielre'slastil*attn4e914in". Weetntinstee Abbey to Mr. Thomas Hell Caine will eel). for New York attend°1ee134thde4 rAehueg7rsstelte°rOf4haille ()pritayvibisiateetti7 on "The Christian." Samuel Edgar Fra,nois, a waiter MIX Boston hotel, has by his own unaided efforts mastered nine langueges, anml that without ever heving been abroad., Spain's Secretary of Embassy, DOD Bernardin Fernandez da Valesco, Duke c°1fass17,.rhitt atallkden a Fgfelnedhe el 8°4 ethoef Vti•jeir- arinah neglecting lecrcetianigtortso. pay hie hotel bills Lord Salisbury created an addition- al Under-Secretary of State for Fore- ign Affairs, whose duty, it will beto deal with international questione con- tnoectteh: nwiestvhp.A.coft.rica, and girl rti,n Le Ma -reliant Gosselin has been appointed Th se °ot RTitiengsticeaySownewdebnichBetaanyaSist e:f ehir subjects may call ou him. The only formality required is to send in one's card, the visitors being received wheix their earn oomes in the order of Al' 51 The English schoolboys who indu.ce Kipling tosendtherna letter for them little magazine builded better tha they knew. The collectors of Kipling aria were soon on the scent and th result 15 tba,t the tiny publibation i which the letter appeared now sell for 8150 a cepa. , Sir Henry Irving has about sixt pairs of spectaeles, either at his hom or the theater. Tlae reason as that h is perpetually, losing t:eem, and when busy with the some productial -weak' find himself considerably han.dicapped did lee not know where to put his hand on another pair. The German novelist Heyse is said to have exclaimed on reading the first ptiblished volume of Bismarck's "Let. ters," Thank God, that man went into politics! He would have spoiled our tra,de." flaismarck !mote like many, men of action with a distinctly liter- ary quality and charm. Edmund. Burke's political career was immensely aided by his wife, who undertook the roanagemeut of his pri- vate affairs, so as to leave him free for public duties. Their marriage was an ideal one, and Burke often declared that for him all cares a life ,vangshed direetly that he stepped over his ONVI1' thresholds Like Cato, who in hies 80th year lbe- gam to learn Greek, Lord Dufferin, who has passed the limits of threescore years and ten, thinke it is really time he knew something about Persian. He has accordingly set himself the task of adding that poetic and figur- ative tanguage to his already large store of liguistic accomplishment, Dublin University has sustained a great loss by the death of Mir Attie& Ali, who held the Chair of Arabia and Hindustani for thirty-seven years, in mmediate succesgion to Dr. William 'Wright who was appointed to the pro- essorship a Arabic at Cambridge, nd to the post of keeper of the Syrian ianuscript in the British museum. he Mir was a native of Lucknow, but Nvas a master of the English language, nd'a powerful and attractive speaker t the various college societies. Mr. J. Fletcher Moulton, Q: a, a iberal candidate in England for the aunceston division, and one of the reatest living authorities on the uestion of patent law, had a distin- uished academic career. When at Kingswood School, Bath, in his seven - a n teenth year, he headed the list of the Oxford Senior All -England Examine- ta-as; in 1863 he matriculated, gaining a scholarship in mathematics and ob- taining honors in classics and chemis- try; and five years later he followed up these successes by coming out Sen- ior Wrangle'. and First Smith's Prize - man. In the same year he carxied off the gold medal for mathematios at the London University, and was subsequ- ently appointee lecturer on that sub- ject at Chritt's College Cambridge. Szczepanik, the Polish Edison,' in - venter of the telectrozoope, which ceees for the eye what the telephone dale for the ear, and whieh is to be showle at the Paris Exposition, has built a large home in Vieima, which is entire- ly taken up with the apparatus which he uses in planning and working out his lieventions. One of these invera tions, just patented, is, according to the Neue Freie Presse, a new system of wireless telegraphy, quite different from Marconi's, and making it possible to send messages to a great distance without a wire. Another, entirely unique, invention is that ot weaving vvithout pattern, Szczepamik ha,s peculiarly constructed loom, with the aid of which a pieee of Gobelin tapes- try, which teem' requires three years to draw and weave, can be naade in one clay I FALSE REPORT. I was very sorry to hear that you had failed, Jorte,s, eald his next-doc,e neighbor, It tvae a slaaelees, sir, I did not fail, 'INms nay Plats Met failed, sir. Acta they etteceeded 1 eould have paid every dollar I owe and had &handsome /Ore tune lett. '170MI3 COVF,RING NENE ACRES. The most Magnificent toirib in thb world is deemed to be the mince Tem- ple of learnak, oecupying ten nate, OP nine acres, or twice thee of St. Peter'e at Rome. The temple epaett is a poet's dream of gigantic celninns, beautiful courts and wondrous &Ventleil of aplinxes.