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The Brussels Post, 1906-5-10, Page 7OI3J CTS OF CURIOSITY IIONY TIIE SECRETS OP STATE ARE GUARDED. Other Nations Weald Pay Bltf Money To Leeral lire Retails of the m 'eadnoupht. Tho meg nq'sierione ship in the emelt! hart tunnelled at Portsmouth on Saturday, February 111ih. 11 is out• late.t battleship, the 1)reaclnouget, and the Governments et foreign 'laterite would give moth Io knew the ni ster- tee of her construction; but the 8(8110ts respecting liar have been too well gunid- ed, and all that iIoiluin's rivals havo 110011 able to loon is that. the Deem!. will be the most terrible destl'u0- eon dealing Instrument that bus ewer Leen seen an the ocean, says 1,01111011 Answer:+. The Ienrsone vessel is the ouleomc of tv.51`llrllish naval officers learnt uhlle studying the liglds an the seas between Japan and ltuesia. The United Slates, Germany, France„ and every ether European naval Power have bean trying to pierce the mystery of the new vessel's. construction, 11 has been In vain. e All that is corlein respecting it 1, that iia ]lrendnougkt can !(arrow at one discharge twice o1( thrice r see much metal as any slap afloat; that the shot will he driven with a farce no ether guns have ever equalled; and the Dreadnought herself is so defended that she can .laugh et ordinary gun -lire and oven disdain the deadly torpedo. AWKWARD STATE SECRETS. By what meals Is tiro awful efficiency of the new murine monster attaine.i? The foes of Britain would pay well 10 know them. They are Stale secrets, however, and the man who would be- tray then would he a traitor to his enure try and Le his kith end kin. Ile would Mao he In danger of punishment for revealing them to a foreigner whet many consider worse than death itself —penal servitude for life. Stale secrets may he terrible posses- sions. By an Act passed In the late Queen's reign, any person wrongfully ab - Mining or attempting to obtain official documents or information (such •.s plea; or models of fortresses. nr:enals, factories, ships, ale., of Sts Majesty), mud wrongfully communicating such documents or Information 10 the agent of n foreign Stale, is guilty of a felony. In every country the enemies of this Government arc ever busy trying to ob- tain by menns of huge bribes the se- mis .o( Stele, Japnu, it is declared, lenrnt scores of Hulse that Russia sought most clearly le guard. litany o' the most sceret defences of Pert Arthur were deela'ed to have been be- trayeti. On 111e other hand, Russinn agents risked their lives in Japan and Iaelslted treasure in purchasing infer - nation respecting the proposed plane of the Japanese generals and the dis- t position of the troops. TIIE BITER BIT. Enormous bribes were offered in vain to discover the secret of the strange Jn- ponese powder, used Ior the nest time to the campaign. But it was well guarded. While thousands were engaged In the mamitfeiure of iia components, very few knew the purpose for which they wore intended,' end fewer still how they were mixed. The mystery of the ter - Mee powder has never leaked out. The fo•ilacalions of Gibraltar, of ftal- et, and of places on our coasts hove been for years "objects of curiosity" to our enemies. Reliable plans would fetch good prices_ from the agents of some ,"overs keen to discover the weak points M our defences. It Is reported that a few ,years ago a very elaborate map of n most important defensive spot was actually purchased by a keen agent from the Continent, who paid a 11)0(1 - and pounds for 1t, The man who sold it le him disappeared with the money, and afterwards communicated to the bttiber that the plan was entirely out of dale,,^ and could be of no service wllnTever; The secret, of the new, mysterious vessel. the Dreadnought, Is well guard- ed. Those who have been engaged in her ennstructlnn arc bound by the most solemn undertaking to absolute seo- revy, awl few indeed are they who could—evert if they would be so base --reveal anything more then , ONE SMALL DETAIL OF IT. Could ((reign powers and their way in- fo the most sacred recesses of Govern- ment oltlelals' sates, they would and no plan there revealing to them the nmr- vellous schema' of the new warship. A few incomprehensible drawings Belong- ing elon - ing to no one could tell what vessel, and making no coherent whole, .wottld atone reward the most daring and skie frl burglar, and he would need to i.e both daring and skilful to secure oven thole A burglar who stole the lot would and his stolen property abso- lutely useless lo him. The burglary if 0 suberban villa would offer bettor pro- spects of a good (0(100. Documents describing suoh vessels are written In cipher composed ny special experts, the keys to which are. in 111e possession of but few, and those most reliable persona, who safeguard been as their Most sacred trusts. Every slop of the would-be discoverer of State secrets is waylaid with pitfalls for even 11)8 most daring and unscrupulous. Highly as he may be paid by his em- ployer, he is haunted by the dt•end that a word Or look may reveal hen in his character se a political spy, and sub - pet him to 1110 iedeies and well -descry. • Oil penalty 'of his decnpat)on. HAUNTING IIORROI1I '1•he Dreyfus case dlsoiosed that Ger- man agents had been busied fon' years m purchasing State secrets relating to Frnned's' defences. It is well known' that France, 'on her side, has employed her army bf spills, and Italy hes been for a long tine lis busy as any. The Dl•ey- fns case also throe a lurid light on how dangerous a State seoret may prove, lint only to those pilo balmy ft, but to Innonent persons suspected of reveaiing It, When, in spite of .ail tare, a, secret 'a Smart to iiave 1001(811 nut, widespread' zuspietdn--fregttetlfly leading to dis- proof)1133 suictda--ta the 00811lt. Sonne vrry bock n dlstingnlshed britsln of neer committed sulnfdm under tnysterl- 043,1 ell'ol1rtlslandci. A Were 1111101 had left hen, week and a Orme to dettietnns, 811d ilia rnoyt terrible 61 all was the en6 WORKING OVERTIME. that while ho was delirious he had un- wmseiou5ly revealed a secret of Ire wast terrible importance. IL drove him tc, madness, and a false report tial a (,reign power had in some 111an110 learnt the information he had Caused lura to )till Maisel( In deepen.. RIIVIVAL RIVSTEIlY SOLVED. Converts Deluded by Bonfires of Gorse Ignited by a Farm Rand. The mysterious lights which appeared 1n the Wadi village of Trogaren, and which teem supposed to have some supernatural connection with the Welsh revival, has drawn an 'Meowing. yet very sinlpie, explannilen front Mr, 1,1. T. Jones, B.Sc., of the County Scheme, 1'regimen, Wales. MI'. Jones deals with the origin of the lights In an article in The Western Mail. 'l'lu1 lights were seen on Iwo sue- cessivc nights by people returning !rain a prayer -meeting conducted by a lady revivalist. Their version was : A hall of fire between them and Berth, and at a great distance from item. It rapidly approached Them. coining l0 within 200 nr 300 yards' distance, The hall of fire split up into two, and niter - wards Into three. It pranced abort, swinging to and fro end up and dove. The three balls then rejoined into one. This shot out spokes of 0r'e,, anti nfieee wards, at a tremendous pace. receded. The whole lasted for about ten mtmtles. Mr. ,Tones went to Mnesglas Fain In ardor to make investigations, 0110 was lnforuted Ihnt the servnnteman had been hurtling gorse in a field just above the house on the second—night, at u lime which tallied with the time the lights appeared. 13y t'equest he conducted Mir. ,Tones to the acid. Three gorse Mashes had been burnt. Ile only used one match with which to set fire la the first bush. Ile then cul a large piece of with gorse, wi'tvltich he lighted the other two bushes. On account of the gorse heing green, the fire dud not lost very long; he said it burnt for about ten minutes. Discussing the explanation, Mr. Jones says )hal -immediately Um people re- turning from the mission saw a light they imagined it to be moving, and tilts impression was therefore, mode on the mind. Since the light Increased In luminosity and size as the gorse took fire it gave the imnression that. the light was moving towards them. After the 01st bush had caught fire the man ignited the piece of gorse he had cut and set fire to Ole two other bushes, the prancing illusion being caused by the carrying of the flaming bush and the flicikering of the flames. Seeing that the gorse did not burn very well the man left 11, and dud not at- tempt to burn any more. The light was at Its greatest. Shortly one hush be- came extinguished, then t.i1e other, and nov one alone was burning. This pre- sented a star-iike appearance, which accounts for the spokes of fire. shot out. The flames violently grew leas and less. which gave the impressio) to lite oh - servers, who, he ft remembered, still Imagined the lights to be in motion, that tho light was receding at a great pace, 011111 u1Umgtely it vanished. it was arranged that the gorse should ngotn be lighted, and the villagers who were gathered admitted that the "phe- nomenon" previously seen was repeat- ed. IDENTIFYING THEM. Some lady visitors, going through a penitentiary tinder the escort of the sit- perintendont, came to a room 10 wheel three women were sewing, "Dear me-" wlhispered one of the visi- tors, "what vicious -looking creoturesl Pray, what are they Hero fore" "Because they have no other hone. This is our sitting -room, and they nee my wife and two daughters;" blandly rrplted the superintendent. Fair tire — "My father made his for- tune when he was a young roan. Would you lace to lent .tow 11e dart it?" Gal- land Yairlh -- "Not particularly; but I would like to know 11 he has still got tt" WORLD ON HAIR TRIGGER I WHAT THEY DID IN 1868 •1 Hie VItIIY SLIGHTEHT H1I0CIC 1S DANGEROUS. Cniiapse of an loch 7n Ura World's Crust Plenty to Shake Cities Into Ruble. Garrett P. Serviss, writing In a New Turk pap111', attributes the carlhqualte at San Frtwuisco Lo a collapse e1 the earth s crust in the immediate neigh eorhon(1 or the Golden time, though per- haps ninny miles beneath the surface. i3arIld.pudce Woollens, he says, are transulilled trough the earth. me a taiiole, and also along Its sweetie, where they become horizontal waves. In this ease the ducky Mountains end the Coast i t 1 1 t d 1 la 1 to the pee [ i ass rl the surface =deletions, • MARK TWAIN TELLS 'TIIfi STORY OF A FORMER F.AltTil4ZUAItg. Curious Happenings Were lnnumer'- able on that October Sunday Afternoon, losses of this kind, Suspended pictures were thrown clown, but oftener sill), by a 811110us Trak of the earthquake's burner', they wero whirled oomplelnly around, will) their faces to 1lhe wall. 'Thousands of people were made so sea sick by the, roiling and pitching of floors arid streets that they were week and bedridden for hours, and some 1.11 for even days afterward. thirdly tut in- dividual escaped entirely," Mork Twain leas the fnoulty of seeing JAP AN!) ENGLISH WOMEN the funny side of anything, every an earthquake. l)1 '3314, whin 5101 Fran - 01810 W118 v81(1111 lay its most whets A YOUNG LIEUTENANT'S CANDID curlbquuke before the present one., Mr. Clcuums tvus a reporter nn one of the OPINION. local 111(110(8, 1Le describes the earth - "ft118 follows : "-- ''ft was just, betere noon on a bright 911 s She is Too harsh, 100 Miascuti:lc, October day. l was miming down Thin! y Sheet, The only objects in (notion any- and Iter Lair is Too . ur fes r r m Nuse nn o r8 t r e where in sight in that thickly -built and iced. ' r For populous quarter • MST 11 1111111 111 a nils reason the vibrations emended •11 buggy behind me and a street ear twernd- WarJtinglon undoubtedly wore tome- 1111) slowly up the 00680 street. Other- uilled dirrelly through the body of the wise all was selitudo and a Sabbath' meth passing under the bases of the stillness, As I was mining 0 earner mountains. RUSI IED 111110Ut;li EARTH. By cont...tiring the recorded tinges of the necnrrcnce of the first shock at San 1 eteneisce end of the beginning of the eibrttliills 01 WVnshinglon, we run de - deco the speed with which the earth- quake arthquake We 58 rushed through. the solid globe. The first shock tit San Fran - r100 teas at 5.13 a. 111„ Pacific time. 'Ol,el would correspond to 8.13 a. ee,,ter11 Bale. The first vibrations retarh- e 1 w'nshinglon al 0.30, eastern Lime. C:ensequeelly, t11 tactual time elapsed • while they were crossing Me continent WW1 seven'100 minutest This 00rreeeends to a speed of 1701, miles per =haute.. or 15,532 feet per seeen1. assuming that the total dis- h nee traveraed was 3,1)00 elites, and that the times es given In the desneicll- es are acrnr•le. This is somewhat alewe the highest recorded speed , t einehminke waves hitherto known, el - though they have been found travelling more than 1(100) fent per second. LbNICED DANGERS. The Pacine coast is (narked tram Ainslie to and beyond the southern herder of the United Slates by a 11110 e' more or less extinct voletmoca like around a frame house there was a great rattle and jar, and It occurred to me that here 1505 an iters 1 No doubt a light. in )hal house, 'Vetere I mild turn and seek the door there elute a really terrine shock; the ground seemed to roll under me in waves, interrupted by a violent Jog- ging up and down. There was a heavy, grinding noise u5 of bred< houses rub- bing Iogethoi•. 1 fell up against Me frame triose and hurt my elbow, 1 knew what IL was now, and from mere re- porlorial instinct—nothing else— took out my watch and n01011 'the time et day. At that moment a third and still moan severe shook came, and as 1 reeled about on the pavement trying to )keep my tooting, I saw a sight TIIE FIRST CRASH." The entir0 front of a tall, four - storey brick building in Third Street sprung outward Ince a door and tell sprawling aet'oss the street, raising a dust like a great volume of smoke. A vol•tide titi.le Japanese 1loulenent of the belLleship 111181 110, just prior to 115 departure from London, cenleled 1 is thoughts, ungallu"1 though 801118 U1 them were, to u surprised press. During their sojuuru In London the Japanese sailors have been entertained in a "glorious" =Inner, and therefore the candor of this partieultu' ileulelunt Is the more surprising. HAIR ALWAYS RED. "1 must make a confession to you," cold the lieutenant, "though 1 lam' it will he thonget unkind. 1 delft alto- gether care fur the English women. She is ton harsh, too masculine, and her hale Is too red. When I say 1116 Engllah- W01111 n's 11010 Is always red, foreign - 000 laugh al, ale and say I roust he col- or blind, hub every woman I see 1)1 Itis cctultl'y has it reddish 10011 to 1310 mrd to every Japanese. "Englishwomen are loo couch inclined lc push themselves forward. I own it shocks one to see a woman struggling Mr a seat on an omnibus. Our worsen have ton 1101011 respect for the men. From childhood they ere taught to re- gard men as Moir superiors. A Japon- And here carie the buggy—overloud one woman would not think of helping went the man, and In Less thole than 1 I herself to anything 01)111 her husband's can tell it, the vehicle was distributed i et' brother's wants had been satisfied. in small fragments along 300 yards of here everyone worships women, ct street. One could have enacted that least, outwardly. and I don't thinkthey someone had tired a charge of chair• are any the better for it. !tenure nattier or Tacoma and Mount rounds and rags down the thorough- SHOULD BATH FREE. Shasta, and wherever there are Wean- tare. "Some years ago 1 spent a few months , ccs, even though They may be inactive, "The street car had stopped, the in England, and was struck by the dell - I there is always a possibility of earth. Horseswere rearing anti plunging, collies put in the way of personal clean• brless. 1 used to find myself charged 2s. for a hotel bath—sometimes More. In my own country a bath is always in- cluded as part of the hotel service, and nu one would think of charging for a Lath any more Ulan Mr a plate or a knife. I can't understand why, with Teeple so clean as the English, such a system is tolerated. LOVE 90' DISPLAY, quakes. Not only are '0100nic eruptions and 1•ar hq"akr s liable to occur simultane- ously, but 11 often happens that a great cvptosion of volcanic energy in one part 01 the world is closely preceded or foe leered by severe earthquakes in other parts, which may be thou;,unds of tulles distant. in the case of California we should leek for a canpeclion of its earthquakes with the stale of the volcanoes either 1.3011g our 0W11 Pacific coast or on the passengers pouring out at bout ends. One fret man had crusted hall way through a gloss window on one side of the car, got wedged fast, and was squirming and squealing like an im- paled medium. 'Every door, every house, as far as Um eye could reach, was vomiting a stream of Munn beings, and almost before one could execute a wink and be gin another, there was a massed multi- tude of people stretching In endless pro cession down every street my position groups of veleanic islands in that ocean, commanded. Never was solemn silence particularly in Howell, in the seven Linned into teeming life quicker. The earthquake of 1508 in California such a wonders wrought by the 'great earth - connection appeared lo be shown by the, quake; these were all that came under outbursts In the same year of the Ha- my eye; but the 'tricks 1t did ,elsewhere, waifae volcanoes, Kilauea and Mauna and fire and light over 1110 town, made I,oa. toothsome gossip for nine days. The GENERAL DISTURBANCE, destruction of property was trifling— At this time, as the news of the past the injury to IL was widespread and two weeks has shown, there seems 1, somewhat serious, te a general seismic disturbance in ODD HAPPENINGS.many hres lhks and voicnnlc0fte phcentenomena,of and ear11 iscluaproe- "The 'curiosities' of the earthquake were simply endless. Gentlemen and labia that the disaster at San Francisco ladies who were sick or were taking a fa to be ascribed to this broad general sieslq, or had dissipated to a late hour condition of the earth's crust arising and making up for lost sleep, thronged Som Its slow shrinkage, rather than to Into the public steels in all sorts of direct ennneclton with any partleular queer apparel, and some without any, outbreak such ms the eruption at Vesu- at. all. One woman who had been wash - When, as Is the fact, we have evi- Ing a naked child ran down the street cence that shocks can be transmitted balding it by the ankles as it ft wero a directly through the groat 8,000 mile dressed turkey, Prominent citizens hall of the earth, 11 is not difficult to who were supposed to keep the Sal, - understand that such shocks may act bald strictly rushed out of saloons in like a touch anon a hair-trigger, set_ their shirt sleeves with billiard cues in Ong elf explostons whose pl'elimfnary their hands. Dozens of men with thee' renditions have been long before pre- necks swathed in napkins rushed from paring In censequenc0 of the strains In barber shops, lathered to the eyes, or the slowly selling and shrinking crust with one cheek clean shaved and the of roci<. INCH DROP ENOUGH. The shrinkage needs to be but very slight, and absolutely invisible, as measured by. -the decrease in the dia- meter of 111e globe. A drop or a sup of a single inch in the underlying rock would be sumolent. to account for all the eesh'uctlon wrought In San Francisco, and, indeed, Inc a much greater oulan- ily. provided lhnl the part of the earth's crest effected by the slipping and shrink. age 1s of considerable extent. For- tunately, It Is probable thatthe worst was ever after the first shocks on title occasion. COULD BE STEADFAST. Father — But 1 am afraid he is a young; elan of flolcle ch011010r. Daughter — 011. no, he isn't, Palm. fk has smelted the same brand of cle- areltes for nearly six months. TRUE iN HIS CASE. First (rid — When pa gives 1110 a Ilek- in' it always hurts him worse'n it hurls me. Second Kid — Aw, they just say tint. First Kid — But my pa's Sot the rheumatism. MEEINO elIM OFF. other s011 bearing a hairy stubble. (loses broke from stables, ' and a frightened dog rushed up a short atllc (adder and out to a roof, and when his scare was -over had not the nerve to go down again the same way the had gone up. INTERIORS• DESTROYED. "The plastering chat fell from ceilings in San Francisco that day would have covered several acres of ground. For some days afterwards groups of eyeing and pointing amen stood about many to building, looking at long, zig-zag cracks that extended from the saves to the ground. Four feet of the tops of three chimneys on one house wore bro- ken square off and turned around in such a way as to completely stop the draft. A crack a hundred feet long gnped open six inches wide in the m111- die of one street, and then shut to- gether again with such force as to ridge up the sleeting earth like a slender Melee. A lady silting In her rocking and quaking parlor saw the wall part at the ceiling, open and shut twice like n moult, and then drop the end of a brick of the floor, like a tooth, She was a woman easily disgusted with foolish- ness, and she arOs0 and went Ont of there. One lady who was coshing down stairs lens astonished to see a bronze Hercules lean forward on its pedestal as if to strike her with its club. They both reached the bottom of the night et the same tine. The woman Insensible from the (0151)1. IT WAS SUNDAY. "The 11111 shocks brought down two or Mew huge organ pipes 11) ono el the churches. Tho minister with uplifted halide was lust 01051115 the service. Ho glanced up, hesitated, and said : However, we will omit the benedie- Um' In the next instant there was a vacancy In the atmosphere where 11e had stood. "Atter the first shock an Onklsnd minister said : 'tsep your seals, There 1s nn better plata to die than this; and added after the third t 'Bat outside is good enough.' Ilo then skip- ped out of the bael<dsol'. Such another destruction of mantel ornaments and toilet battles as the earthquake created, San lerannt500 )sever sant before.' More was hardly a girl or ma'etel to the city but suffered "One thing I have noticed in your English )louses Is that your chief de- sire seems to be to display everything you have as conspicuously as possible. When I go to an English house, pie - tures, china, ornaments, and every- thing else confront me at one glance, and cry aloud, 'See how rich I amt' to Japan, however much we have, we only show a little of it at a time. 1 havo uncle who has pictures, rare porcelain, and lacquers worth 420,000, but If you went into his house yogi would only see a tiny bit displayed. The rest 1s kepi in a warehouse. When tired of ono met el ornaments he stores themand puts another sot in their place. ADMIRES THE 130YS. "One thing that I have been greatly airuck with is the self-reliance of the English boy. There we have much to learn front you, In Japan our parents have so much authority, and keep the children under such control, that a boy of fifteen or sixteen has very little initia- tive of his own, and would be lost If 110 round himself on bis own resources. Here I find boys of all classes are per- fectly able to take care of themselves. "We are learning lo go in for gar1105 like you, and baseball is very popular in our schools, though we have never mastered cricet. Bnt the Japanese youth is loo sedentary, and spends his time reading silly novels or pleyfng a game called Go, rather than anything in open air sports." ',ETTER FROM CHARLES DICKENS. On the Eve of Drhlh Ile Protested His Veneration for the Saviour. An interesting leiter by. Charles Dickens, written on the eve of the great novelises death, has been discovered under curious circumstances.. A few days ago an old "History i f England," purchased twenty years ago from a senond-hand bookstall, was taken to a hook -shop In Junction Road, Upper Holloway, London. The boots was p1.ac- tically valueless, but within its pages was found a letter, which bore evidence of being genuine, written by Charles Dickens to Mr, John M. Mnekeleam. The letter, which had reference to a passage in "Edwin brood," was es fol• lows 1 Oad•s Hill Place, Wed., ElghUI June, 1810. Dear Sir,—It would be quite fncon- ceivabl0 to me—but for your letter --that any reasonable reader could possibly Wadi a Scriptural reference to a pas- sage l)1 a book of mine reproducing a much -abused social figure of speech impraseed into all sorts of service on all sorts of inappropriate occasions without the faintest connection of ,it with its original source. I am truly shocl<e(1 to find 111et any readers men make the 'mistake, I havo. always striven in my writings to express Veneration for the life and lessons of our Saviour, becau8e 1 feel it, and because t rewrote that hlstoey for lay children, everyone 0f whom Knew It from hearing it repeated to then long before they could rend, and almost as seen as 1110y could speak. 13511 1 have never made proclamation of tills' rrmn 1110 housetops. Faithfully yours, CIIARLES DICKENS., John 133. Mackieam, Esq. Melts died on Rule 0, 1870, and therefore„ the above Interesting letter, within possibly '1110 last hours of his ,death,p0ussmd ll:s easy to plan political (010010 white mated Oil 011 empi,y dry -goods • box, ARMY MADE IN TEN DAYS COLONEL POLLOCK:S IRREGULARS Alth' ElltST-(:LASS, )lis Experiments With )taw Material— Turns Out Coad Soldiers in Ten Days. Colonel Polincic has set out to provide the Brinell Army with an aeon lessen 11) training ii'regllar'm, and so tat', be has achieved excellent 8uceeS8. lie lead 111s 111(11 Lei 11Uur1KIQW heath, and inter' leu day, iterating ting they acquitted them- selves creditably before the critical eye of a distinguished military officer. ON PARADE. A disUnguished military officer ar— rived rrived ineognitu and unexpectedly In his motor cm', lend after lunching with Colonel Pollock, expressed a desire to 61,111 Um irregulars at drill. A general panicle was ordered, end the mon =welled with a debonair swing, and epi nged direction in litre and column with most creditable pre- olsfon, 'rhea physical drill was carried out. 1'he recruits bowed, sprung erect, swayed, and balanced their rifles to the sound of a whistle 55,111) an automatic unanimity which would not disgrace any regular battalion. CLEVER WORK. The feature of the parade was the manoeuvre of forming an attack. Half NATIONS WERE RUINED COUNTRIES IAST THRGUGIX AFAN CARELESSNESS'. • Cause of the Sahara Desert -- AlusIrO Is Becoming a Deadly Swamp. There are some countries In the world that have s0 much vitality that they will survive any number of plagues, bras, (1,110005, and the like, while ethers Itave teem ruined try Inn:wets and allnrals, and lost forever through nittr's eat'aies Oliess. The criminal negliguneo of our armee• tors caused a beautiful forest, In which Europe might be lust, to 115001ne a giant desert 0f sand, Tins desert Is the Sa- hara- In the days of Me Carthaginians 1t was a forest, ns all North Africa was a formal Cor hundreds and hundred8 , I !tales back from the coast The anot- ergs needed timber for building purpos es, and for fuel, so they cut down the forests and planted corm in place of the bees. W Iten the Romans came upon the scene, and extended their Empire over Norah Africa, they cut and out until the forests almost disappeared, and the land for miles around • became a bar ren waste. Nature, finding herself do badly treated by man, began to have her revenge. The rain fell in torrents end worked the soil from the hills and SWAMPED THE VALLEYS. Year after year, and cenemy attar the company advanced in sections of century, the whale of North Africa sui- fours, raid was suddenly ordered -to tei'ed from terrible inundations, and scatter from the centre. Had they been finally the Sahara, owing 10 the fact In a are -swept zone they could not have that there were no forests left to ab - shown more ideally in 311811ing for the, sorb the moisture and allow 11 to de- shelter of a slight. ridge, opening out wend gradually into the sea, .became as they fan. The sergeant -instructors take a keen interest In their work, and seek to stimulate the recruits by frequent sar- castic comparisons with militia then. a sun scorched desert. Even to day, nations cut down valu- able forest,, end leave the land to the mercy of winds and storms. If this sort of thing continues, matters go con At the conclusion of the parade the staidly from bad to worse, and, In the distinguished military visitor warmly end, the map is disfigured by another congratulated Colonel Pollock on the very smart arid soldier -like exhibition given by bis men, • "It is really a good result after ten days of parade work," said Colonel them is becoming a deadly swamp. Pollock, who wore the khaki field dress The bees were felled many Years ago of his old regiment, the Somerset Light by laborers in the employ at the .Vest - Infantry. ern Telegraph Company, who had made • "The men only handled 111010 rifles Stalesel throndh s lAinslie,o run 1)svhamiss10010 the for the first. line on Monday morning, elegies. and then via Siberia to Europe Most of them can now late their wen- Thousands of men were employed to pons to pieces and put them together carry out the scheme, and they cut a wide avenue through open country and primeval forests of some 1,000 miles long. Three parts of the warts bed boon com- pleted when Cyrus Field came linen the scene with his protect far a telegraph blot upon its surface. 'mite Alaska as an example. Hun- dreds et giant trees lay stetched across it: land,cane, and the land beneath again; no easy task with a magazine rifle. They have quite mastered 111e uIusketry exercise. BEATS DEPOT SYSTEM. "As you see them this afternoon, I have no hesitation in saying that they mine tender the Atlantic. This ruined are more advanced than they would the Western Telegraph Company's idea, which had given employment to thou- sands of men, and COST HUGE SUMS OF MONEY, and their telegraph trail has been aban- cloned. Instead of reslrring the damaged for - eels, America allowed them to be left haat-demolished with the felled Trees weltered in all directions. Unless some- thing is done to remedy the evil, time will unbalance Alaska, end the loft put damagatione will then be beyond any 00m- . Swat briar and gorse have turned enormous tracts of ane grazing In Tas- mania into sem(-stagnant marshes, while New Zealand lost Its finest rivers by allowing watercresses, planted years ago by a too enterprising farmer, to sweep along the banes unchecked, car- rying irretrievable ruin in its train. Hundreds of thousands of the finest grazing acres ever possessed by the Argentine Republic, have been lost for- ever by European thistles imported in- to the. country in cheap wheat seed. The farmers did not take the trouble to pick the seed ever, bet plai,ed it es 11 arrived. The result was that the wheatnelds became covered with this- tles growing to nearly eight feel high. it was loo late to stop the ravages of. the quick -growing weed, and the fields had to be abandoned. To -clay they are rolhing better than impenetrable Mick: els harboring wild birds and beasts o1 prey. lo'anri carelessness has damaged Aus- tralia to an incredible extent, Less titan fifty years ago a large number of in- • dian-bred ponies of Patagonia were Imported into the country, and THEIR COATS BROUGHT RUIN. Seeds of the now known Bathurst weed were carried by them in their long hal( from 110urn , The seedsPatagonla tools tool101, anAd stspreadaliarfieldsapid• idly, utterly ruining the pastures. Plague has aiwyss threatened India with destruction, and millions of lives were lost before the Government et tempted to slop its ravages. Some time ago they came to the conclusion that it would be wise to 'inoculate the natives against the plague with Haffkine serum. They proposed to inoculate the entire population of the Punjab, some six mil- lion persons, and laid aside a sunt of $270,010 for the purpose. If this had not been done, India would have bean dcd. tented by plague in the long run In much the same way as London was decimated. The oil-ny Is ruining the olive plan- tations of Southern Italy. Up to the present time the loss to (he wintry is roughly 11130,000,0110, and the Nations are alone to blame for the appalling condi- tion of the olives. For years past they have shot and entrapped every kind of Uteri; large and .,'mall, with the re• eut11 that. Southern Italy Is pracileally flee from members ,.nf the feathered tribe, and the ol1-fly, In c0nsemlenee., in- creases and (Writhes unchecked. Now there is a anheme on hand to import tato the country thousands of birds, from the wren ppwarde. 10 decrease the toll .taken yearly by insects,--Pear- son's Weekly. LEAGUE FOR UPRIGHT WAITING, In Paris a "League for Upright 'Witt Mg" hes been formed, and it takes a phrase from George Sand as its mottos "Upright writing on horizontal paper with (he body held straight," The league crusades against fhb English style of writing slanting end angular, 5vhieh, it says, Is no longer really height In England or Amet'lea. Stenting writ, Mg is sold 10 `'0050 short sight, "seh0'losls," and many other optleal trouble', have been after four times the length of training under the existing depot sys- tem. 'They have already learnt semaphore signalling, and are now tackling the heliograph, 1 believe in variety. 11, interests the men and brings their in- telligence into play. We work them about four hours a day. By four o'clock every afternoon they are free, and at liberty to go where they please so long as they report themselves before eleven o'clock the same night. In addition F give them a half -holiday on Wednes- day, and all Sunday oft.' The men appem' to enjoy their experi- ment in soldiering. Only one of the hundred and four recruits has left thus far. He told a sergeant -instructor 1,e was tired of par0ds work, and Colonel Pollock replied that he had better go. —*— MAN'S MAN'S WEAKER RALF. One Side of this Body Always Stronger Than the Other. The popular belief is that the lett side is weaker than the right, and, as to all pthis, In beliefs, most eases. here Is much says the Grin and Magazine, the right arm is decidedly stronger than the left, the bones are 110500 and the muscles more vigorous. When WO conte to consider the lower limbs, however, we find a precisely op- posite state of affairs; the left leg is stronger than the right in the great ma- jorIty of cases. This want of symmetry Is nolloeable all through the body, N111e times out of fen we see bolter with one eye than with 1)1e other, and hear bet- ter with the left than the right ear, or vice versa. Not only so, an injury to the body— a burn or a cut, for instance --causes 1(000 pain on one side than It would were it inflicted on the other, Even dis- eases attack ono side on their nest onset in preference to the other. Eczema, entices° veins, sciatica, and even tlib- ereulosis begin, invaluably, fn mane fest themselves on our weaker side. A blistering plaster, too, vyi11 provoke an eruption only if applied to the right side of certain individuals; in others, only it applied to the lett side. The simplest way, apparently. et discovering which Is our weaker side is to .observe which side we lie upon ) y preference when in bed. es it is cei'- taln that .we wt11 instinctively adopt thio altitude which Is most agreeable, or, ra- ther, which causes the least inconvent- e-n0e; inother worth, we will llo upon Iho, side the muscles of Which, being more vigorous, are lass sensible to the pressure upon them of the weight of the body. Statistics and observation go to prove )hal In 0boua tht•ce eases out of four It is the left side which is Ole weaker, Thus giving reason to the popular die - tum, Curiously enough, however, pneu- monia,"tt has been noticed, unlike most ttlseases, usually attacks at 'arst the right—that is to say, the stronger silo of the body. A QUESTION OF DIET. "Charley, dear," said young Mrs. Tor- lona, "1 wonder 'why our teens den's "Perhaps we don't toed them prop. erly.,, "1 hadn't thought of that. I11 go this afternoon and buy then soled egg plmltt Time flies --therefore the successful eying ma0irina Is only a matter of ;ay) William?" "t11e leacher, air," •