Loading...
The Brussels Post, 1909-8-19, Page 6++++++++++++++f++++++41 THE 111111. FES .+++++-t++++++++++++++,, The heart of Montague Kent beat igh with hope, Anything ?night appen now, for .Tack Romana was dead, and he would not have ven- tured into the Great Beyond with- out unburdening his soul of its aw. Jul secret, Rent saw again the crowded court and heard the foreman of the jury return a vereliot of "Guilty" against him, Then he heard the judge's solemn words condemning him to four years' penal servitude. He shuddered at the recollection cf the long days and nights of im- prisonment. Beet they had been M- lowed by the glorious, God-given day when he had stepped out into the world a free man. Friends, met him at the prison gates, but instead of going home be had turned south and sought the wide expauses way bank of be- yond in Australia. And there he had lived the wild, free life of a stock -rider. With the news of Jack Roman's death came the great possibility of a righted wrong. After waiting twelve months he turned home- wards. Now he stood in a cosy Bayswater drawing -room, impati- ent to learn if he had bean cleared in the eyes of the one he loved most 011 earth, Suddenly the door opened, and through it, with the soft rustle of Silk and the breath of violets, came the woman for whom he had suf- fered so much. Kent bowed. She held out her hand, but he did not take it. "I thought you were in Austra- lia," she began, awkwardly. "I reached England yesterday," be replied. "Ob 1" she remarked, disinterest- edly, then paused for him to men- tion his business. "I heard of Jack's death," be re- sumed. "It occurred rather more than a year ago," she said, trying to look with unconcern into the brown, clear-cut face before her. They had been very much to each other before the tragedy had cleft their lives asunder, and even now the knew that this man held a place in her heart that ro other ever had. "Did he say anything about the - about me -before the end?" Kent asked, in a tense, hard voice. He waited eagerly, breathlessly, for her answer. "About you?" inquired the wo- man, puzzled. His spirit sank within him -his hopes were shattered. He knew she would have understood his question on the instant if her hus- band had spoken, "No," she continued. "What was there to say?" He would have to incriminate the dead to tell her that, and what opinion would she form of him who, In the interval the woman's tried to shift his load of guilt on, thoughts turned to Kent's visit, to the dead man's shoulders. I Why had he asked if her husband "What was there to say1" she re-, had said anything before he died? peated. A weird, terrible solution flashed "Nothing," he answered shortly, across her brain. almost harshly. "You can't mean that my - A keen scrutiny of his features that---" told her no more than his words. The words died away in her throat teis strong face was as expression- but her frightened glance told the less as that of the Sphinx -a hunt solicitor what she would have said. dred secrets might have slumbered "Yes," be answered, gently. securely behind such a mask. "Walker was killed by your hus- "I am sorry to have trouble you band. The floor seemed to rock be - on what must appear at best a fool- Heath Mrs. Roman's feet. She lean- ish errand," he prosaically declar- ed heavily against the table. Once ed. "I will not waste your time. more she heard Kent, in reply to Good-bye." her question as to what there was Picking up his hat, stick, and to tell, answer in those tense, queer gloves, die reeved to the dour. tones, "Nothing -nothing." And "Was that all you wished to see this was what he had called no- rm about?" asked Lena Romans, a trifle wistfully. Kent weakened a little at the quiver in her voice. A mad impulse to catch the woman in bis arms and pour into her ears the true story of the crime that had wrecked his life seized him. But what was the good ? he asked himself. Fate had Closed the gates of paradise against him. An attempt to force them could only result in pain and humiliation. The woman would receive Ies story with contemptuous inereduli ty. He fought the foolish impulse down, and etraiglrtr.ued himself with a jerk. "Yes eat all,- he said with forced steadwcss, ••.ig:Lin-gaod- bye." "Good-bye," she replied; then he was gone, and a few days later a thousand utiles of ocean rolled rest- lessly between thein, looking meg solicitor, "Don't speak with each en air et ' finality, please, Lena, YOU aro-----", "It's better, she out in, some., whats loci svmpathotically "to sot= tle the matter now. X must cand- idly tell yeti that, though fully alive to the vaiue of your advice and friendship, it would be unkind of me to let you .entertain the beet hope," Clifford's face became drawn sad celerless as the words ran softly • 0, sweeping his bright dreams away and leaving bare the grey, Tnonoton. oas routine of his present daily lits, No mencould think a woman eared one iota for him after such a die. ,passionate statement of the case Still, he was loath to realize it. "Won't you, let ma ask you epeein a year's time?" he Pleaded, try- ing hard to keep a tight rein vu himself. Mrs. Romans stepped to his silly and, placing a tiny white hand upon bis sleeve, looked up at him with troubled eyes. "I wanted to be the best of friends with you -I didn't want you to love zne. I'm very, very sorry,. Jim, but it can't be; it can't!" She saw the muscles knot up be• neath his cheek as his teeth came tightly together. 'Heavens! And I have sinned so for you I" he exclaimed. "Sinned for me 1" she cried, in amazement, moving away from him ".Aye, sinned for you 1" he bursa out. "Sinned against the living and -broken faith with the- dead. Heaven save you from ever loving like that --and in vain. It's -' it's purgatory 1" He dropped into a chair, and, spreading his arms over the tattle, buried his face upon them, Mrs. Romans was startled by the wild outburst. She stood motion- less beside him. Presently Olifford, calmer, rose tc his feet. "I wonder if you will be able to forgive me?" he said, "Forgive you?" she repeated. "I've nothing to forgive," "Ah, you don't know I I have sounded the depths of infamy, and I have no excuse to plead but lova of you. When I've confessed you'll remember that, won't youl" "I shall never forget it." Clifford turned his back' upon her and told his story while gazing into the fire. "You recollect that some years ago Montague Kent was arrested and charged with having oaused she whispered. the death of Thomas Walker 1 He His arcus closed tightly around was found guilty of manslaughter, her, their lips met, and in the, plea - and sentenced to a term of penal sure of the present the pain of the servitude. Well, he was innocent I" past was completely forgotten. - "Oh, no : It's impossible," pro- London Tit -Bits. tested Mrs. Romans, agitatedly in- terlacing her nervous fingers. ' "The ease against him was clear. Re was known to have had disputes with Walker, He was seen eross- ing the Wentmore Fields with him cne night, and the man was found dead next morning. The----" "But he pleaded guilty," inter- rupted Mrs. Romans. "To shield another," explained Clifford; then he paused. He had come to the painful part and found is difficult to proceed. wrong in this tangle pf wiolted' iaoaaa r'Dxy .share is the worst of all," a,seerted Clifford, bracing bill tel rr n forthet z uJ erdoa • I fad I f .l p F l promised your husband that I won deliver his confession, 'which he lef with me, to you directly he we dead, .T feared that if Kent wer eleered he would:eomc and ask yet to marry hint. To prevent that and win you for myself, I betray the trust placed ie me by your hue band, You should have been tie cemented of all this at his death two years since; I have played th part of a scoundrel in suppreasin it, and failed, as I deserved to do Yet I hope you well find it in your heart to pardon me." By a supreme effort of self -con trop •Mrs. Romans extended has hand in token of forgiveness. * * 5 * 5 "Shall arrive at three o'clock,' said the telegram which she held between her trembling fingers,' Mrs. Romans's heart thumped re. belliouaiy when, a few minute ahead of the hour, the servant an nounced, "Mr. Kent," "1 had your letter and came a once," he abruptly informed her "You know all?" "Yes," she answered, "Jack left a full confession with Mr. Olif ford -it was delayed in delivery." "I felt sure he would.That was why I came before." "And yen then said there was nothing to tell," "That was the only course open 10 me. But what dies all that mat. ter now? Let's forget it." "I can't. Re told you I had promised to become his wife. 1 hadn't, Monty, I hadn't!" Kentes expression suddenly brightened. "Yet you did marry hint," he ac- cused.' "You were lost to me, You sively. "Now, however, you must be exonerated before the world." He came closer and took her hand iu his. "You are my world, Lena. No,. look up at me," he begged, draw- ing her to him. "I have wanted through long years to look into your eyes. You don't. know what the past has meant fon me, nor do I want you to. I love you more than I can tell, and I think I could make you very, very happy out' there. Will you come, dearest 1" "That's just what I want, Monty. To be with you, always --always," 1 Y ld t hundred yards from. me in the sun- s light washing hit face like a eat, e move a couple of steps into the z shade and fade away like the Che- , shire Oat in, "Alice in Wonder- ed lazed" ; but what is more extraor- - dinary is that be eau move with- - out some dry leaf or stalk crack- , ling to betray hitt, e Often ie a beat in the middle of g 'the hot season the inexperienced sportsn'ten's heart is in his mouth as he hears the crushing of a dead leaf, the slow, stealthy tread of what •,'seems some heavy animal, but at ' is only "moa," the peacock,the first to move ahead of the boaters. Then after a period of strained ' watohing, when the eye can and does detect the move of the tiniest bird, the quiver of a leaf, sudden- ly without a sound the great beast s stands before you. He does not al - 1 ways care to move quietly, but when he dues death is not more si- t lent, The question of how a white or , otherwise abnormally marked tiger can take its prey is simplified by Ithe fact that as a general rule the !tiger kills at night or at dawn or dusk and that it is only the cattle, , killing tiger who takes .his _lordly toll of the village cattle by day,. Again that wonderful voice, the • most mournful soave in eapitivity,' "which literally hushes the jungle and fills the twilight with Horror," is a powerful aid to hint in his hunt- ing, Often as I have heard it, the imemory of ono occasion it as vivid as the moment when it held me 1Yspellbound. I was stalking lamb bur in the evening -in a glade in fromut theforest,when suddonl 0 fifty yardabove nee rang out a lung, low, penetrating moan which I seemed to fill the jungle with a ter- ' rifting thrill and for a moment made the heart stand still. The native shikari, who in spite ee MowgIi's contempt may know something of the jungle ways, be- lieves that the dear, hearing the tiger's voice and unable from the reverberating nature of the sound to locate the position of their en- emy, stand or lie still and so give him the chance of stalking his prey. Thera is probably some truth in this, for unless you are following the tiger and have seen him it is almost impossible from the sound alone to tell with any certainty where he is, -Algernon Durand iu London Times. S]fLJlNT'I`11l,D 41' T1111 TIGER, When Ro Kills -.Effect of lig hoar en Smaller Beads. t' u I have aeon &tiger eating p a I3IPRISON MEN1 POR DEBT. Canes of Intprieonmeut Increase Annually. Imprisonment for debt was nom- inally abolished in England many years ago, but, paradoxically, the e:ctual number of cases of imprison- ment have since annually increased. -faster than the population. Much more judicial option is pos- sible than formerly was the case, and is exercised under the existing law. A. debtor against whom judg- ment is rendered may be summarily required to pay before a given date ten penalty of imprisonment. This power of committal resides in the judge of the court. Some judges exercise it much more freely than others. In Nottingham county im- prisonment for de t .is rare. In other populous court districts with mumh court business the cases of imprisonment do not exceed fifty a year, while in some less populous districts with less court business the number reaches five hundred a year. But it would seem that oe the whole the indulgence shown to delinquent debtors is steadily de- creasing, for the cases of imp]•is- thing. ) ailment in the country have deaen- "Why did you not come forward • nially increased as follows under with all this information at the I the existing law :-In 1876, 4,238; trial?" she demanded, 1886, 5,480; 1886, 8,199; 1900, 11,986. "I knew nothingofit till long Technically the imprisonment is afterwards, One ay, shortly aft for contempt of court. ter his marriage your husband came to me and said that he had great- ly wronged an innocent mem, but had not the courage to set things right. He there and then wrote a Good manners adorn good mo - confession, detailing how he had tives. niet Walker and Kent in the fields It's faith in luck that makes the and spoken to them. Walker was loafer, intoxicated, and, taking offence at Nothing is saved that is withheld something he said, hit out at him, in selfishness, Jack struck back in self-defence. No life is hopeless $o long as it Unfortunately the blow felled his s gives others happiness. assailant -his teintle came against Truth is always too lig to be e stung, killing hin instantly. hounded by one man's vision, "Your huisband, terrified, iu:plor- The sorrows of earth cannot be ed Kent not to betray him, He cured by sighing for heaven. . did not care fur himself, lie vowed, Nothing can make up for the los- but you had promised to become ses that come from self love, his wife, and the shock would kill A good deal of religious fog is duo * * * " yeti." to evaporated enthusiasm. The countless services re'idercd "You are mistaken. I had not Being forearmed may be the her byJames Clifford---,;errieeseut promised." best kind of faith in the right fight. side his duty as her solicitor •-- all "1 know,' continued Clifford. Of all promises the worst to break Feinted to ane conclusion ; he was "The eonfession states that it was are the ones we makeourselves. in love with her. Directly Lena but a ruse to silence the only .wit- A man may cover up his sins, but Romans suspected this she did ev- nese of the crime, That it would he cannot escape from the sinner, erything in her power to check also remove his most dangerous riv- A. great roan never has time to him. But, with all her tact, she al had hot occurred to him, Kent wait for an audience and he never could not mould the inevitable. was staggered by the announcement needs to, . gg' At our of than httstne.:s inter-; t+uncernine you, We all ,knew he I:Ie who Carries his idol before him views he asked her to became his loved----' usually blames, it for leaditzg him wife, "Don'tI don'tl" astray. I to very sorry, Mr.Cletr rd;'' "Well he held bis tongue for Let your religion make geed and she replied, sincerely, "It's quite , year sate, and tie one suspected' yahwvill not need to worry about iematite*, for trio etcr to he more the truth. That's all -so far," making other's good. to you than at present," "tel:, it's miserable -miserable," 1 WIu'n a man 1* waiting on the Yon might learn to earn for Hie ?riff/1/r'/',01)1Y lamented, Yet I Lord he is moss: likely to be working in the future," urged . the &",,.u- don't tee .,het you have done for _zone of hit rhildrr,n. SENTENCE SERMONS. MAILING IT SOMME. now a Clergyman Got Even With a Cowboy. Tho striking ability of the late Rev. James Robertson, D. D., for many years missionary superintend- ent in the Northwest Territories, to grip and hold individuals even while he rebuked them for their sins, often gave him entrance to a crowd or a community that other- wise would have been closed to him. There is a famous story of au encounter he had with a young cowboy in Fort McLeod, which the. old-timers of that town love to tell, and which Rev. Charles W. Gor- don has incorporated in his recent "Life of James Robertson." It was the superintendent's first visit to that part of the country. Coming by the Lethbridge Cage, he made the acquaintance of the stage. driver, Jake, famous for his *kill with the lines, famous' also as a master of varied and picturesque profanity. Later in the afternoon the super- intendent was pinning up in the ho- tel officee a notice of a service to be held en Sunday, the day following. A young fellow strode in, read the notice, glanced at the superintend- ent, and immediately broke forth into a volley of oaths. The,superintendent listened gut etly till he had finished, then said, blandly: "Is that the best you can do? You ought to hear Jake. You go to ,Take, He'll give you points.". The derisive laughter that follow- es1 completely quenched the crest- fallen young man. In the evening the superintendent came upon him in the street, got into conversation with hits, found he was of Presby- terian extraction, that ho had been well brought up, but in that wild land had fallen into evil ways, "Come, now," said the superin- tendent, "own up you were try- ing to bluff me this .afternoon, weren't you ?" "Well, I guess so," was the shamefaced reply. "But you held ever me." "Now look here," replied the superintendent, "you get Inc a good meeting tetmorrow afternoon, and we'll` call ie square." The young man promised, and next day's meeting proved him to be as good as his word. • IT'S A TOSS-UP, Hicks -"My wife never says 'I told you so when my plans go wrong. Wicks -"Bq Jove! she's It trea- sure. 1 wish---" Teieks-"She merely remarks, 'Didn't I say sol' STORY OF NAPOLEON PLOT FAILED TII;BOUGR WAIT ERS OBSERVANCE. Russian Diners Put Barrel of eine powder Uiader Imperial Theatre Box. An interesting story is that ",f a frustrated -plot against Neooleon 111., which has never got into the history book, but which is 0130 o the favorite storses of M. Victorren Sardou. RUSSIAN EPICURES. In 1000, when the frontage of the Theatre Francais was rebuilt after the disastrous fire in whiob eno „f the most charming actresses of the Meison de Moliore lost her life, several shops disappeared ain,"ng them being that of the famous res- taurant Chevet. It was not pro• porly speaking, a restaurant, (he - vet used to sell liquors, groceries smoked meats, etc., and in a couple of. low ceilinged rooms on the firer floor he would serve a meal or two to connoisseurs. One day in .8;5 of 1800 two young men of fa,;hion, Russians both of thein, came 111 and called for dinner in one of the little rooms which were, above the shape They asked for caviare, but when they got it they protested loudly that the caviare was of inferior quality and called for the owner cf the shop. He came, apologized, and was met with the rom•rrk ten- dered laughingly by one of the din- ers, that next time thee carne they their -own caviare. g, would bring v. WAITER SUSPICIOUS. They came again and bro,tght it in a little white "wooden barrel, and wheat they left they had it put on ome side for them. Ertel timo to time the two Russians came and dined chez Chevot, dined Invari- ably in the same room, and always began their dinner with than- owe caviare. One day they finished the barrel, and a few days late, in the afternoon, one of them brought another one. "Put it in the little cupboard in the room we always, done in," he said to . the waiter, and do not let anybody touch it. until we come to din." The waiter took it, but on his way up- stairs something peculiar struck him. "Look at this barrel," he said to the restaurant keeper. "There is something queer about it." INGENIOUe DEVICE. "This is no business of ours," said the master of the establish- ment, "and I am not going to look at it, anyway. What will our mis- nomers say if they find we have opened it?" "Oh," said the waiter, "we can open it and close it again, and they will never know. It is certainly different from the last barrel. It is heavier to begin with." His insistence prevailed and the barrel was opened. The restaurant keeper and the waiter started back iri fright, There was no caviare, but gunpowder in that little bar- rel, which was an infernal ma- chine. The little dining room was exactly underneath the imperial box, and there is little doubt that the emperor's next visit to the Comedie Francais would have been his last had the carefully laid plot not been discovered. The plotters were never caught, although the secret of the plot was carefully guarded and traps were laid for them in Chevet's restaurant for several days. li'ROG INDUSTRY I2; FRANCE. It is in France that the frog was first generally used ,for food, and it is in than country that the in- dustry of frog farming has boon most largely developed. The green frog exisits abundantly throughout France wherever there are marsh- es, ponds or sedgy margins of riv- ers or bays that contain fresh or *lightly brackish water. The best outfit for frog raising is one or snore shallow ponds or reservoirs filled with grasses and other water plants It should be so situated that the water can be partially drawn off so as to faoilitate the ta- per of catching. If, as is often the case, the pond 'already abounds in frogs, they are simply protected and left for a year or two to propa- gate. If food does not prove abun- dant the owner throws in live earth- worms, as the frog is a carnivorous animal and prefers the food, whe- ther warms, larvae or insects, fresh and in normal, living condition. If r.o frogs exist in the water they are planted either living or in the form of eggs, which hatch when the water becomes warm in April. 4e- SO _Sb ANNOYING. Mr, Jenkinson : "I've been out half the: day trying to collect money, and I'm savage enough to break the furniture. It heats everything how some men will put off and put off. A man who owes money and won't pay it, isn't tit to FL�anC]ate Servant (opening the door). "']'lo, botcher, sir, is rlownier; div w'itl, in• bill." blr. Jenkinson: "Toll him wgain•" ' WOMEN OF WEST INDIES THEY ART OF yAIIIEf T1' ES AND 0014015, Pictures of l!lronze, 11ed, Yellow, Cinnamon Brown and Shiny Black. A writer in Leslie's Weekly has Mardi some attractive attributes belonging to women in the West In- dies, and describes them enthusi- astically. The writer, Harriet Quimby, says: "A fascinating feature of a cruise through the blue waters of the Oar- ribean Sea is a review of the dif- ferent types of femininity found on the islands which form the West Indies, The coquettish Spanish senorita, with her flashing eyes and saucy faee, dances her way through life in Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, and Cuba. Spanish types are also seen at La Guayra, Venezuela, a port where most cruising steamers with pleasure parties aboard stop for a visit, but they are differeut in feature and are apparently differ. ent in nature from the women of Cuba. Lovely fair-haired and blue- eyed Danish wosaie11 are found in St. Thomas, of the Danish West In- dies; and there, too, flourishes a typo of dark skinned, close -crop- ped. curly-haired and the bluest -of - blue -eyed native,which boasts both Danish and African parentage. ERECT CARRIAGE. "The negro women of Jamaica and Haiti, and the Carib Indian and negro women of Dominica, the Barbadian oreoles, who preserve and perpetuate in the tropics the strength and 'sturdiness but none of the good, looks of their English forefathers, the French Creoles of Martinique, the Indian coolies of Trinidad, and, lastly, the British Africans and native. Conchs of the Bahamas :furnish almost as varied a group of distinct types as can be flaoundntic. on the other side of the At "The erect carriage and lithe, graceful motion of the women of the tropic islands,whatever their ancestry may be, are especially like- ly to impress the artistic observer, and it is the sight of these animat- ed pictures of bronze, red, yellow, cinnamon brown and shiny black. daughters of Eve which gives above all the antique flavor to his first im- pressions, ATTRACTIVE TRINIDAD WOMEN. "Nowherein the West Indies will one find more attractive women than in Trinidad, where the Indian coolies have settled in large num- bers. There are several classes of Hindoo • wemen in 'Trinidad - the wives and daughters of the• mer- chants, the wives of laborers, and the women who work in the cocoa plantations and in the fields as farm bands but there is no difference in their attractiveness. They are all good-looking and many of them are beautiful, with the dark -eyed mys- terious, fascinating beauty peculiar to the orient. Delicately formed are they, slender of figure, with sloping shoulders, and round, graceful, and dimpled arms and tapering wrists and fingers. The face of a pure Indian is oval and charmingly aquiline, and it is also: singularly charming in expression - a feature which seems to have been acquired under the influence of the climate and environment of- .the British island.. BREAKING IT GENTLY. Of Sabbath -breaking north of the Tweed, says a writer in the London Chronicle, there is elite story of the Scot and his wheelbarrow, whiob has been fathered upon.Sir Archi- bald Geikie. Donald was hammer- ing away at the bottom of his bar- row when his wife came to the door, "Mon," she said, "yu'rc making much clatter: What well the nee hours say?"' "Never mind the neebours," said the busy one. "1 maun get ma barra mendit." "Oh, but Donal', it's vara wrang to wurk on Sawbath l" expostulat- ed the good wife; "Ye ought to use screws." GRAPHITE PAINT, The growing exclusion of lead from paint on the ground of lis. poisonous eharactor has led to the introduction of graphite as a sub. stitute, particularly in the place• of reel lead in the painting of iron. Mixed with linseed-uil, graphite prots:ats the iron well against rust, tied is much ohcnper than red lead. ib. many new uses have been found for graphite; whish not lung ago ,.,t, employed- almost exclusively for the manufacture of lead -pen cils, that large quantities aPrr, naw made with the electric furnace, the natural deposits of the mineral net being sufficient to tepees the de- em -id \iso- Ittriset-" C'tIke tip Is:inns! t ,,,,,rster ,,,,,,.'',rit t],0i,i' i., -,'t lei II-' L,,.• i'se. ,lir tilt hi, Cr..!,;1; ,n+,'t GKEA f MODERN HOTELS DEVICES WITII IYIi1GCII T'IIEX ARE EQUIPPED. Orders swe'e A.utousatieally Traos- ntitted -- Apparatus la (Mee of Fire. The new hotel buildings which are being pelt up in the United States mark the culmination of a business to which the best. of American in- genuity and desire for luxury have ben eoneentrated. Time was when the hotel that cost half a million dollars was considered palatial.. Now no new hotel in the larger cities is considered first class int - less it costs at least $1,000,040, and many of the new hostelries cost tt3,000,000, $4,000,000 and $5,000,- 000, including their site of ground lease. ROUSE OF bMARVEL. The modern hotel ie a house of marvels, The casual guest who spends a night in one between trains or orders a simple dinner for a few friends does not realize perhaps the cost and ingenuity of the mechanical devices that are summoned to his service. Not only in his room Iightsd and ventilated by electricity, but his carriage is signaled, the potatoes for his break- fast are peeled and his bread is kueaded by the same force. TWO INVENTIONS. One of the latest hotel devices is a telautograph, by which orders written' in one department are au- k -emetically transmitted to paper by a moving pencil in a totally dif- ferent part of the building. An- other electrical device is a delicate apparatus installed in every room of a New York hotel, which sends in an alarm of fire whenever the temperature around it is, abnormal- ly high. OLD BROOM BANISHED, The odd broom with its cloud of dust' is a thing of the past. Pneu- matic brooms have taken its place sucking up every particle of dirt and depositing it an a bin in the basement. Even the chambermaids who run these brooms are kept in constant touch with the main office by electricity. When one enters a room she inserts a small glass bulb in a socket on the frame .of the hall door. This connects a circuli which not only lights the bulb, bub also a glass button on a switch- board in the office, thus enabling the clerk to toll exactly 'where every maid in the house is at a glance. -Boston Globe. —dam BLOWING- s. ELLS. There are three remarkable 'ex- amples of what are called blowing - wells, three miles from Norwich, England. They are about 100 feet apart, 3 feet in diameter, and from 70 to 80 feet deep.' At present they contain no water, but alternately they blow out and draw in air, the sueeessive states of expulsion and inhalation of air each lasting sev- eral consecutive days. The force is sometimes sufficient -to blow off an iron dome placed over the open- ing. When one of the wells inhales it sucks in leaves and ether objects, There is a local belief that the wea- ther can be forecasted by the in- tensity of the blowing. A scienti- fic observer suggests that the phe- nomena .may be connected with the atmospheric pressure, or, perhaps, with the rise and fall of the water in the river Yam, which is about two miles away. The wells are 190 feet above sea -level, lett the elevation of the river is only four feet. M1 — ----- CENSUS IN CHINA. China is preparing to take a cen- sus of her 400,000,000 people. The census is to be a thorough one, and after it is done the facts and figures are to be kept pretty well up to date. One provision of the regula- tions for officials reads: "After the completion of this census all births, deaths, marriages, and adoptions meet be reported by the head of the family to the local census efice or police -station; the records of families must be revised every two months and recortls of individuals every six months, and reports must be made ` annually to the board of the interior by the directors getter -- al of the census from the various provinces," :1 l?IERCJE II.'P1 PM.SET. Ji,,lge-"You say that because of injuries inflicted by your wife you have been unable to ptersue your vocation I What is your business, sir?" " Yeor .Honor, I'm a lion -tamer." He wssa vary deferential, , but he was a deacon in the church, and 1 c felt that he had a right to err tieizo, "1 hope you'll pardon mc," hk -said, "if I stsggest that your sue -roes are--ah---s' "Too prosy, I tempests?" suggested•tho minister. "()h, no; not that. But.too long." Tint tvru titeistn't blame 1110 for / a. returned the minister, plea nein,. "If you know a little more, wouldn't have to tall you to ouch."