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The Brussels Post, 1893-12-8, Page 2N THE MIDST OF ALAR. HOJ3T. BARR, IN "LII'k'INCOTT'S MAGAZINE." "But this is an outrage," Dried the: pro foam, indignantly.. CHAPTER X. QVhen the two prisoners with their throe ptors oame in sight of the Canadian vol. iteere they behold a scene which was much are military than the Fenian Damp, They ire promptly halted and questioned by a plot before coming to the main body, and e.sentry knew enough not to shoot until had asked for the countersign. Passing e picket, they came in full view of the adinn force, the men of which looked very • and span in uniforms which seemed anfullynew in the oleer light of the fair one- morning. The guns, topped by a ;istle of bayonets thab glittered es the sing sun ahone on thein, were stacked with at precision here and there, The men ere preparing their breakfast, and a mporary halt had been palled for that irpose, The volunteers were scatter• t by the side of the road and in to fields. Renmark recognized the colors the regiment from his own city, and iticed that there was with it a company tat was strange to him. Although led to tem a prisoner, he felt a glowing pride in is regiment and their trim appearance, a ride that was both national and civic. He istinetively held himself more erect as he oproaehed. Renmark," said Yates, looking at him ibh a smite, "you are making a thoroughly ritish•mistake." " What do you mean ? I haven't spots. "No, but I see it in your eye. You are ndereatimating the enemy. You think this ratty company is going to walk over that ody of unkempt tramps we saw in the roods this morning," " I do indeed, it the tramps wait to be ralked over,—which 1 very much doubt." " That's just where you make the mitt. eke. Most of these are raw boyo, who :now all that can be learned of war an a ricket -field. They will be the worst•whip- ied set of young fellows before night that his part of the country has ever seen. Veit till they see one of their cen- ades fall with the blood gushing out of a vound iu his breast. If they don't turn nd run, then I'm a Dutchman. I're seen aw recruits before. They should have a ompeny of older men who have seen ser - ice to steady them. The fellows we saw his morning were sleeping tike logs in the lamp woods, as we stepped over them. wrongnow." bhey are veterans. What will be a mere "" See here, Benny," whispered Yates, you get book to the tent and see that everything's all right, 1'll be with you in an hour or so. Don't look so frightened. I won't hurt Stoliker. But I want to see this fight, and I won't get there if the colonel sends an escort. I'm going to use Stoliker as a shield when the bullets begin flying." The bogies sounded for the troops to fall in, and Stoliker very reluctantly attached one clasp of the handcuff around his own left wrist while he snapped the other on the right wrist of Yates, who embarrassed hint with kindly assistance. The two manacled men disappeared down the road, while the volunteers rapidly fell in, to con. tinue their morning's march. Young Howard beckoned to the professor from his place in the ranks. "I say, pro- fessor, how did you happen to be down this way ?" "I have been damping out here fora week or more with Yates, who is an old school- fellow of mine." "What a shame to have him led off in that way t But he seemed to rattier like the idea. Jolly fellow, I should say. But I wish I had known you were in this neigh- borhood. 111y folks livo near here, They would only have been too glad to be of as- sistance to you." "They have been of assistance to me, nod exceedingly kind as well," "Whab? Yon know them? All of them? Have you met Margaret?" "Yea," said the professor, slowly, but This glance felt as it encountered the eager eye.. of the youth. It was evident that Margaret was the brother's favorite. "Fall back, there," cried the officer to Renmark. "May I march along with them? or can you kava me a gun and let ire take part ?" "No," said the officer, with some hauteur; " this is no place for civilians." Again the professor amtled,as he reflected that the whole company, as far as martial experience trent were merely civilians dressed in uniform, and he became grave again when he remem- bered Yate's ominous prediction regarding them. ' 1 say, Mr. Renmark ," cried young Howard, as the company moved off, "if you see any of them don'b tell then I'm here, — eapeoially Margaret. It might make them uneasy. I'll get leave when this is over and drop in on them." The boy spoke with the confidence of youth, and had evidently nopremonition of how itis appointment would be kept. Ren - mark left the road andstruek across coun• try for the tent, which he reaohed without further molestation, finding it as he had left it. Meanwhile, two men were tramping steadily along the dusty road towards Wer land, the captor moody and silent, the prisoner talkative and entertaining. Yates's conversation often went beyond the entertainment, and became, at times, instructive. He dieouesed all the affairs of both countries, showed a way out of all political difficulties, gate reasons for the practical use of common sense in every emergency, passed opinion on the methods of s,grioulture adopted in various parts of the country, told stories of the war, gave finances of men in cam tiviby murdering those who were in obarge of them, deduced from theta ancedotes the foolishness of resisting lawful authority lawfully exercised, and in general showed thab he was a man who respected power and the exercise thereof. Suddenly branch- ing to more praotioal mattere, he exolaint. ed,— "Say, Staliker, how many taverns are there between here and Welland?" Stoliker had never counted them. " Well, that's onoouraging, anyhow. If there are so many that it requires an effort of the memory to enumerate them, we will likely have something to drink before long," I never drink while on duty," said Stollker, eurtl . " Oh, well, don't apologize for it. livery man has his failings. I'll be only too happy to give you some instructions. I have ao qgulred the useful practioo of being tibia to drink both on and off duty. Anything can be done, Stoliker, if youive your mind to it. I don't believe in the word ' can't' either with or without the inverted am. ma," Stoliker did not answer, and Yates yawned wearily, "1 with your would hire a rig, °enstable, I'm tired of walking, I've been on my feet ever elites three tine morning," "Of course it is," replied Yates, wee rliy; "but the woods are full of diets. Thro'e's always outrages going on, espsoially in so. called free countries ; therefore one more or lass won't make much difference,—Come, officer, who's going to take me to Welland ? or shall I have to go by myself? I'm a Fenian from 'way back, and oame here especially to overturn the throne and take it home with me. For heaven's sake know your own mind one way or other, and let us end this eonfereate," The officer was wroth. He speedily gave the order to Stalker to handcuff the prisoner to himself and deliver hint, to the jailer ab Welland. "But I want assistance," objected Stolt - ker. "The prisoner is a bigger man than I am." The volunteers laughed as Stoliker mentioned this self-evident feet. "If any one likes to go with you lie can go. I shall give no orders." No one volunteered to accompany the constable. "Take this revolver with you," oontin• ued the oflloer, " and if he attempts to ea. cape shoot him. Besides, you know the way to Welland, so I can't send anybody in your place, even if i wanted to." Howard knows the way," persisted Stoliker. That young man spoke up with great indignation : "Yes, but Howard isn't a constable, and Stoliker is, I'm not going,'' Renmark went up to his friend. " Who's acting foolishly now, Yates ?" he said. " Why don't you insist on seeing the colonel? The chances are ten to one that you would be allowed off." " Don't make any mistake. The colonel will very likely be some Iuesy individual who magnifies hie own importance and who will send a squad of volunteers to escort me, and 1 want to avoid that. These officers always stick by each other : they're bound to, I want to go along with Stoliker. I have a score to settle with him." " Now, don't do anything rash. You've done nothing so far, but if you assault an officer of the law that will be a different mater." " Satan reproving sin. Who prevented you from hitting Stoliker a short time since ?" " Well, I was wrong then. You are kirmish to them will seem to these boys lIlte most awful tragedy that ever happen. Id." Some of the volunteers crowded around the inoomere, eagerly inquiring for nays of he enemy. The Fenian had taken the remotion to cut all the telegraph -wires eluding out of Fort Erie, and hems those n command of the companies did not even chow that the Feninns had lef6 that locality. hey were now on their way to a point here they were to meet Colonel Peacock's oroe of regulars,—a omni which they were eatined never to reach. Stoliker sought an ifioer and delivered up his prisoners, to. ether with the incriminating paper that ates had banded to hint. The officer's envision was short and sharp, as military ecisions are generally supposed to be. He ,rdered the constable to take both of the •risoners and put them in jail at Port Col. .erne. There wao no time now for an in- • uiry. into the ease ; that could come after- vards ; and as long aa the men were safe n jail everytbiug would be all right. To hie the constable mildly interposed two bjection, In the first place, he said, he ••as with the volunteers, not in his capacity s constable, but in the position of guide nd mon who knew the country, In the ecoid place, there was no jail at Port Col- ette. Where is tine nearest jail?" "The jail of the county is at Welland, the ounty town," replied the constable. " Very well take them there." "Bob I am here as guide," repeated toliker. The officer hesitated for a moment. "You even't handcuffs with you, I presume?" " Yes, I have," said Stoliker, producing he instrument. " Well, thea, handcuff them together, nd I will send one of rho company over to Vellenti with them. How far is it across onntry ?" Stoliker told him. The officer called one of the volunteers, nd said to him,— " You are to make your way across 'auntry to Welland and deliver these men p to' the jailer there. They will be hand- .uffed together, but you take a revolver 'tab you, and ff they give you any trouble, hoot them." The volunteer reddened and drew him elf up. " I ant not e policeman," the said. 'I am a soldier." " Very well, then, your first duty as a soldier is to obey orders. I order you to site thesemen to Welland." The volunteers ha l crowded around as this disouseion went on, and a murmur rose thong them at the order of the officer. They vidently sympathized with their comrade's bjectiou to the duties of a policeman, One f them made his way through the crowd, nd:cried; " Hello I this is the professor. This is r, Renmark. He's no Fenian." Two or three more of the University students recognized Renmark, and pushing up to him, greeted him warmly. He was evident- ly a favorite with his class. Among others young Howard pressed forward. " It is nonsense," he oried, " talking about Bending Professor Renmark to jail He is no more a Fenian than Governor- General Melnik. We'll all go bail for the professor." The officer wavered. "If you know him," he said " that is a different matter. But this other man has a letter from the commander of the Feniaos recommending him to the consideration of all friends of the Fenian cause. I can't let him go free." •1 " Are you the ohief in command here?" asked Renmark, " No, I am not." "Mr, Yates is a friend of mine who is hero with me on hie vacation. He is a new Yorlc journalist, and has nothing in common with the invaders. If yon insist on sending him to Welland I must demand that we be taken before the officer in oenmand. In any ease he and I stand or fall together. I am exactly se guilty or innocent as he is. ""Wo eau t bother the colonel about every trivlallty," A mans liberty is no triviality. What in the Warns of common sense are you fight- ing for but for liberty?" ' Thanks, Renmark, thanks," said Yates, "but I dont caro to see the colonel, and I• shall welcome Welland jail. I am tired of all this bother. I name here for rest and quiet, and I airs going to have diem if 1 have to go to jail for them. I'm coming reluctantly to the belief that jail's the most comfortable place in Canada, anyhow," THE BRUSSELS "I have no authority to hire a buggy." "But what do you do when a prisoner re. Nees to 100110 ?4 "I'd stake him move," said Stoliker, shortly. " Ah, I see. That's a good plan and saves bills at the livory.etable," They mune to a tempting bank by the road•aide, when Yates ettotl,— " Let'e sit down and have a rest, I'tn tired out. The sun le hot and the road dusty, You can let me have half an hour the day's young yet," " I'll let you have fifteen minu.tee." They sat down together. " I wish a team would oome along," said Yates, with a sigh, " No chance of a team, with most of bhe horses in the neighborhood stolen and the troops on the rade," " Chat' so," assented Yates, sleepily. He was evidently done out, for his chin dropped oa his breast and his eyes oloaed, His breathing oamo oat and regular, and his body leaned towards the constable, who sat bolt upright. Yates's lafb arm fell across the knees of Stoliker, and he leaned more and more heavily against him. The cons stable did not know whether lie wao sham- ming or not, but he took no risks. He kept hie grasp firm on the butt of the revolver. Yet, he reflected, Yates could surely not meditate an attempt on his weapon, for ito had e, few minutes before told him a story about a prisoner who escaped in exactly that way. Stoliker was suspicious of tete good intentions of the man he hal in charge ; he was altogether too polite and good-natured ; and, besides, the oonetable dumbly felt that the primmer was a much cleverer man than he. "Here, situp," he said. gruffly. "I'm nob paid to carry you, you know." " What's blurt ; \Vuat's that? What's that?" cried Yates, rapidly, blinking his eyes and straightening up. " Oh, it's only you, Stoliker. I though it was my friend Renmark. Have I been asleep ?" " Either that or pretending,—I don't know which, nor do I care." "Oh I I must have been pretending," answered Yates, clrewsily; "I can't have dropped asleep. How long have we been there?" "About five minutes." "All right." And Yates's head began to droop again. This time the constable felt no doubt about it. No man could imitate sleep so well. Several times Yates nearly fell for- ward, and each time saved himself, with the usual luck of a Bleeper or a drunkard. Nevertheless Stoliker never took hie hand from his revolver. Suddenly with a greater lurch than usual Yates pitched head -first down the bank, carrying the constable with him. Tho steel band of the handcuff nipped the wrist of Stoliker, who, with an oath and a cry of pain, instinobively grasped the links between, with hie right (hand, to save his wrist. Like a cat Yates was upon him, showing marvellous agility for a man who just tumbled into a heap. The next in- stant he held aloft the revolver, crying triumphantly,— < How's that, umpire ? Out I expect." The constable with set teeth, still rubbed hie wounded wrist, realizing the hopeless- ness of a struggle. Now Stoliker," said Yates, pointing the pistol at him, "what have you to say before I fire ?" "Nothing," answered the constable, "ex- cept that you will be hanged at Welland, instead of staying a few days in jail." Yates laughed. "That's not bad, Stoliker, and I really believe there's some grit in you, if you are a mac -catcher. Still you were not in very much danger, as perhaps you knew. Now, if you should want this pistol again, just watch where it alights." And Yates, taking the weapon by the muzzle, tossed it as far as he could into the field. Stoliker watched its flight intently, then putting his hand into his pocket the took out scone small object and flung it as nearly as he mulct to the spot where the revolver fell. Is that how you mark the place ?" asked Yates, ""or is it some spell that will enable you to find the pistol ?" " Neither," answered the constable, quietly. " It is the key of the handcuffs. The duplicate is at Welland." Yates whistled a prolonged note and looked with admiration at the little man. He saw the hopelessness of the situation: If he attempted to search for the key in the long grass the chances were ten to one that Stoliker would stumble on the pistol before Yates found the key, in which ease the reporter would be once more at the mercy of the law. "btoliker, you're evidently fonder of my company than 1 am of yours. That wasn't a bad strategic move on your part, but it may cause you some personal inconvenience before I get these handcuffs filed off. I'm not going to Welland this trip, as you may be disappointed to learn. I have gone with you as far as I intend to. You will now oome with me," "I shall not move," replied the constable, firmly. Very well, stay there, said Yates, twisting his hand around so as to grasp the chain that joined the ouffs. Getting a firm grithey hadhe vtrked ptramped. ale fewminutes oad nwhich before, Stoliker set his teebh and tried to hold his ground, but was forced to follow. Nothing teas said by either until several hundred yards were thus traversed. Then Yates stopped. Having now demonstrated to you the foot that you must accompany me, I hope you will show yourself a tensible man,Stoli. ker, and come with me quietly, It will be less exhausting for both of us, and all the same to the end. You can do nothing until you get help, 1 am going to see the fight, which I feel sure will be a brief one, so I don't want to lose any more time in getting back. In order to avoid meeting people and having me explain to them that you are my prisoner,I propose we go through the fields, One difference between a fool and a wise man is that the wise man always aocepte the inevitable. The constable was wise. The tivo crossed the rail fence into the fields and walked along peaceably together, Stoliker silent as usual with the grim conk. dance of a man who is certain of ultimate suooess,who has the nabiod behind him with all its machinery working in his favor ; Yates talkative, argumentative, and in. struotive by turns, (ooasaonally breaking forth into song when the unresponsiveness of the other rendered conversation diffi• cult. "Stoliker, how supremely 'lovely and quiet and restful are the si)ont soenbed spreading fleas 1 How soothing to a spirit tired of the city's din is bhissolitude,broken only by the singing of the birds and the drowsy droning of the bee erroneously termed "humbie'l The green fields, the shady trees, the sweet Eras inees of rho sum. mar sir, untainted by city smoke, and over all the eternal serenity of the blue and cloudless sky, --hove can human spite and human passion exist in such a paradise? Does it not all make you fool as if you wore an inn000nt ohtld again, With motives pure and connoionco white?" Ii Stoliker felt like an innocent oltild he POST did not look ib, With olottded brow ho eagerly scanned the empty fields, hoping for help, But if (the oonstablo mato no reply there was an answer that electrified Yates and put all thought of the beautyof the attars, out of his mind, The dull report of it musket far in front of them end• denly broke the ailenee,followod by several scattering shots and then the roar of a volley. This was sharply answered by the ring of rides to the right, With an oath Yates broke into a run. " They're at it I" he cried, " and all on account of your confounded obstinacy I shall mise the whole show. The Feuians have opened fire, and the Canadians have not been long in replying," The din of the firing now became locos• sant. The veteran in Yates was aroused. He was like an old war-horse who again feels the intoxicating smell of hattle•smoke, The lunacy of gunpowder shone in his gleaming eye. "Come on, you loitering idiot I" he cried to the constablewho had difficulty in keep. iog pace with him,—" oome on, or by the gods, P11 break your wrist across a fence rail and tear this brutal iron from it." The savage face of the prisoner was trans• formed with the passion of war, and for the, firsb time that day Stoliker quailed before the insane glare of hie eyes, But, if he was afraid, he did not show hie fear to Yates. "Come on, you I" he shouted, springing ahead and giving a twist to the handcuffs well known to those who have to deal with refractory criminals. " I am as eager to see the fight as you are." The sharp pain brought Yates to his senses again. He laughed, and said, "That's the ticket. I'm with you. Perhaps you would not be in suoh a hurry if you knew that I am going hobo the thick of the fight and intend to use you as a shield from the bullets." " That's all right," answered the little oonstablo, panting, Two sides are firing. I'll shield you on one side, and you'll have to shield me on the other." Again Yates laughed,and they ran silent. ly together. Avoiding the houses, they oame out at the Ridge Road. The smoke rolled up above the trees, showing where the battle was going on, some distance bo• yond. Yates made the oohstable erose the fence and the road and take to the fields again bringing him around behind Bartlett's house and barn. Ito one was visible near the house except Kitty Bartlett, who stood at the back,watchiug with pale and anxious faoe the roll of the smoke, now and then covering her ears with her hands as the sound of au extra loud volley assailed them. Stoliker lifted up his voice and shouted for help. (TO itE CONTINUED.) THE COST OF RIDEAUHALL, Some Interesting Figures Relating to the Governor•aeneral'e Reeieenoe• A Chnpei fur the i'reseul Governor But 11 Will not Cost the Country Anything, When it was alleged a little time ago that Lord Aberdeen upon a brief inspection of Rideau Balt had decided it to be road. equate to accommodate his large retinue of servants and that he would like the Derain. ion Government to make some addition to the hall, there was a howl in the press. It is a are spot with the tax -payer, this old vino -regal abode. Some have oharaoterized it as a perfect sihk•hole for public) money. Possibly this is the result of the system of management, or mismanagement ; possibly the result of the fact that the building was never originally intended to enshrine the purple. Whatever the cause, the cost there and the mere mention of now expend- iture makes the tax -payer wince. As a matter of fact the new Governor•General did not make any requisition upon the Government for additional accommodation for his forty-seven officers, seoretariee,eides and sertanbe, and it is possible that the report arose from the fact that he did possess this unusually largo household for aeon a Governor-General, and that there is an addition being made to Rideau Hall. A CHARAOTUURISTIC. ABERDEEN 5101'1, But the addition is not for servants quar- ters. It is quite a characteristic addition, au Aberdeen addition, ono might say. It is a chapel. And Lord Aberdeen brings his own chaplain from the land of Burne. It is undorstood that family worship is an tmvarying feature of the Aberdeen domestic life, and it will be reodily under. stood that with so large a domestic establishment, soma adequate provision for holding the regular daily worship is almost a necessity. Bat the Government will not need to foot the bill for the chapel, Lord Aberdeen does so out of his private purse. It is quite an unpretentious temporary structure, dovetailed among the offices itt rear of the Hall, The figures in aonueotion with the vice- regal residence may be divided under two chief ]readings, the Governor-General and Rideau Hall. LIFE ON THE .PLANET VENUS. Speculations is the Light or Science as to !That Sort ern Time they Have, It will be remembered that about two years ago the famous Ibalian astronomer, Schiaparelli, announced that he had disoov ered that Venus, which is a world very slightly smaller than ours, makes only one tura on its axis in going once around the sou, It• would follow from this that on Venus there is no succession of days and nights as upon the earth,but that perpetual day reigns on one side of the planet and perpetual night on the other. In other words, if Sohiaparelliis right,Venus always presents the same faoe to the sun, just as the moon forever turns the some hemisphere toward the earth. The inhabitants of the sunward side of Venus, then—if there be any—never see the sriu set, while the inhabitants of the other side never seethe sun at all, unless they visit the opposite hemisphere of their globe, Of course, no one knows whether there are inhabitants upon Venus or not, but we do, know that Venus has an atmosphere, and that in its atmosphere watery vapor exists and that clouds float, and that upon the surfaoe of the planet the force of grave. tation is not very different from that which it manifests on the surface of the earth. Accordingly, there are some reasons to be urged in behalf of the opinion that Venus may be an inhabited world. But if one half of Venus be buried in endless night while the outer half lies glaring beneath a never -setting eon, it is evident that the inhabitants of that planet must have experiences that would be most strange and brying to 05. So the question whether Venus really does rotate on its axis once to 225 days, the period of its revolu- btou around the sun, derives an added in- tereat from the consideration that the planet possibly has inhabitants. The older observations indicated that Venus rotated in between tweatythree and twentyfour hours, giving it days and uighte about equal to those of the earth - In order to settle the question it has re eently been proposed to apply the spec. troaoope. It is known that in the spectrum of a celestial body which is rapidly ap- proaohiug the earth the speotrosoopio lines are shifted toward the blue, while in the spectrum of a fast retreating body the lines are shifted toward the red. The principle has been used in measuring the rate of the son's rotation. The lines are shifted toward the blue on the pastern and toward the red on the western edge of the sun, and by measuring the amount of shifting the rate of rotation is found. 11 is easy to see that tho same method may be applied to find on how fast Venus re- volves on its axis. Every one who watches the glorinus evening star growing brighter and brighter in the sunset sky during the coming months will certainly be eager to hear the latest news from the astronomers who are trying to find out whether Venus has successive days and' nights like the earth or has only a day side and a night side. DT; i xiii+,i.i 8, 1893 maintenance ; 2. Furniture, 3. Care of gardens and grounds, and 4, Fuel and light, In every moo the Dufferin regime shows the biggest figures, The totals aro ne follows ; Rent of domain, 1808.09 Purchase, 1800.,,,.,..,, Additions Furniture Care gardens and grounds Fuel and Light $ 7,854 82,000 547,144 118,863 04,340 151,371 $1,001,571 The are of the garden and grounds is contracted for with looal gardeners. The usual cost is $400J or thereabouts, Latter- ly there has been a fixed allowance for fuel and light of $8000 a year, Oombined, the cost of the Governor. General and of Rideau Hall since Confed- eration is not far from three millions, Perhaps Canada after all gets off mighty cheap when she pays a hundred thousand or so per year for her Goveenor•General and gets British soldiers and Bailors, am- bassadors and consults free when needed. TIER GOvsRNOR•GE,1'ERAL. The Governor.Cieneral's salary sines con- federation has been ten thousand pounds sterling per year, or translated acourately into decimal currency, $48,600.80. The other items in his case aro : 1. Travelling expenses ; 2, Salaries of Governor -General's secretary's office; 3, Contingencies of Gov- ernor -General's secretary.'s office. The totals'of each item from 1858 (oonfederation) to 1882 ioclusivo are ; Governor.General's salary. sl 016,611 Governor's travelling expenses 116,603 liavcrnor's secretary's etlloe, salarles270,350 Governor's secretary's ollice, contin- gencies, '17,126 $1,551,315 The travelling expenses were not oharged till 1574. The first Governors -General, Lord Monck, and Sir John Yottng (Lord Lisgar) paid their own way. Lord Dufferin, the prince of spendthrifts, changed that, and since 18714 the vim -regal travelling has cost Canada an average of seven or eight thousand a year. The big year was 1877, when Lord Dufferin had a farewell blaze of glory that cost $22,554 in travelling ex. pones. His terns expired the following year.. The Governor -General's secretary's office ie dominated by His Excellency's military seoretary, generally an officer of the Guards, and His Excellency's right hand man in all matters both social and public. Tho mil- itary secretary has leave of absonee and his pay from the Imperial authorities, and gets $2400 from the Dominion Government, The business of the office is to transact correspondence and other general routine business affecting the Governor-General, and the staff consists of a chief clerk, throe other clerks, a messenger and an orderly. The outfit 10 almost purely ornamental. As to the contingencies, which used to average ever ten thousand a year, but have latterly come to seven or eight thousand, they are usually half made up of cable. grams, telegrams, postage, stationery and printing. Newspapers eget from five bun. deed to a thousand dollars. Subscriptions to Canadian papers last year footed up $300, to British papere $240 and $33 was paid for United States papers. RIDEAU HALL ,1Nt5 SURROUNDINGS. A Boom in Whitewash" A . missionary stationed at one of the South Bea islands determined to give hie residence a coat of whitewash. To obtain tide in the absence of lime coral was re. ducat to powder by burning. The natives watched the process of burning with inter- eat, boileving that the coral wag cooked for them to eat. Next morning they beheld the missionary's cottage glittering in the rising sun white as snow. They danced, they sung, they screamed with soy. The whole island was (mhfnsion. Whitewaah became the rage. Happy wag the coquette who could enhance her charms by a daub of the white brush. Coutenbions arose. One party urged there superior rank ; another obtained possession of the brush and vel. ianbly hold it against all comers ; a third tried to upset the tub to obtain seine of the cosmetic, To quiet the hubbub more white. wash was trade, and in a week not a hut, a domestic utensil, a war stub, nor a garment but was as white as snow ; not an inhabit. ant but had his skin painted with grotesque figures ; not a pig that Wart not whitened l and mothers might be seen ib every direc- tion capering joyously and .yelling with delighb in the contomplatien of the initialer beauty of their whitewashed babies.—Mie. sionery Uhroniole, A REMARKABLE ADVENTURE. An Insane hussies Spends Twenty Years Naked In an Outhouse, and Then Re. severe. The Rusakaia Staring, a Russian review, publishes the memoirs of 114. Valerie Panaiev, who mimes of a family well known in rho world of arts and letters, In these me• inoirs is related the ease of a very near relative. The victim was a refined and educated gentleman, who after the death of his brother, Volodia, seemed to have become insane. The peculiar thing about this Volodia was that his glance was so sharp that no one could endure it turned upon him. The victim of the adventure used to drive Volodia out of Inc proaenoe. Itn- mediately after the death of the latter a profnee growth of hair appeared upon the remaining brother's body, and he became insane. His insanity became more and more pronounced. Finally his parents de- termined to have him seized. Ile ran into u outhouse and, fortifying himself, defied all efforts to dislodge him. In this he remained, entirely naked, for twenty years. The hair covered his body completely. Ho seemed not to suffer from the cold. Once every week a number of dishes of food were placed before him and these he lapped up. No other food passed his lips. Ho lost his power of speech. He communicated by a sort of fowl, which nc one could make out but the old nurse who had brought him up. He knocked the panes out of all t10 windows in his shed. In midwin- ter the temperature was often far below freezing. Some twelve years after he went insane the old nurse died, On that day he opened his oyes and exclaimed : "Volodia, when will you release me ?" From that moment he conversed with his relatives. They tried to take him to an asylum in Kazan, but he threatened to commit suicide. Once they aebually got him out of the building, but he esoaped and went bank. M. Panaiev saw him there twice and conversed with hint on all man• ser of topics, iuoluding literature and politics and his old university comrades. His mother and the rest of the family used to take turns in reading books and news. papers to hien. When his mother died he left his post, dressed himself and saw to the funeral arraogementa. After the burial he went back to bis barn. But the charm, or malediction, was broken. ily and by he resumed his former life and lived until very recently. He became a great patron of the drama and literature, married and was visited several times by his relative, the writer of the memoirs, M. Panaiev. No one has as yet explained the nature of bis visitation, but it is, of course, attributed to his brother's piercing eye. Undoubtedly the domain was bought cheap. It was net a bedsore of house, and along with it went a noble natural park of a couple of hundred acres. The hall was built by a lumber king named McKay, and sold by his estate to the Dominion Govern- ment in 1800 for $82,000. It stands on an eminence a mile or two east of Ottawa, with a tine view of the pity to the west across the Rideau river, while on the other side is a pine wood, sweeping down to the Ottawa river, the Grand River, as the old residents affectionately call it. The Hail at first was merely a large and handsome house. Now it is a pile of half a dozen houses, looking homely and plain un the outside, but not without a certain piotur esqueuess. Governor after governor bas made additions. Dufferin stook on a big dining hall to the weat,Prineess Louise add- ed a racketmere ou the east, other regimes increased the ofloos and stables, and now comes Aberdeen's chapel. But there are large conservatories; there is a natural hollow on the east which makes a fine little pond for ourling and skating in winter, or a lawn for tennis in summer ; a fine cricket field lies at the foot of the slope on the western side ; the pines seclude bio Hall in most directionsthere are capital stables— and in short it Is difficult to imagine the vice -regal household better off for healthy recreation combined with welcome privacy, Ineide, the Hall is an irregular but very comfortable and homelike abode, with large low rooms studded with grates for coal fires, and mostly with pleasant and generally picturesque outlooks. Lord Dufferin first opened the eyes of all wide when in 1873, his first year, he got. fiftyfive thousand dollars spent in additions and repairs, Up to that year, too, the Governors•Goneral had paid for their fuel and lights. Dufferin got $5000 for ibis tucked on to the publio burden. The next year, 1874 he got $35,000 more spent in alterations and repairs ; $12,000 on furor titre. He averaged 330,010 a year for the next four years for !,hose smite purposes, and ran ftp the fuel and light bill to over $10,000 s year, When the Marquis of Lorne emended DaBdrio, his royal bride kept things lively still, But neither under Princess Louise nor any one else before or after did Rideau Hall out two-thirds what it 014 under Dufferin. The expenses fit oonetialou with the Hall oame under four tteadiegs, after the Rest oast. 1. Additions, alterationo, repairs and Coal and Population. It is quite true that the temperate regions of the world are becoming more populous, j tst as it is equally true that the stook of ural in rho world is being gradually ex. hausted. The coal supplies of the United Kingdom are, for all praatleal purposes, mush larger than they wore fifty years ago, when a great geologist persuaded a great minister testate) off a prospective danger by Imposing an export duty on coal. Since that time new coal fields have been discovered, DPW mines have been opened, old trines have been worked at depths which would have been declared impracticable then,, and the stook of available coal, though hundreds of millions of ton have been con - sunned in the interval, is actually larger than it was at the commencement of the present reign. Just tlto same thing may be said of the great countries in the Western and Southern Hemispheres, which are be- coming the new homes of the Teutonic rase. Almost every new trade route, almost every now colonial railway, has opened out fresh territory to the colonist, and the land available for colonization, instead of beeom• iog less, is, for all praotioal purposes, greater than it was fifty years ago. True that, in the United Statesmoat of the land has already been appropriated, while the population has increased till it has doubled that of Great Britain. Bub, vast as is the population of the United States, they would easily sustain, if they were peopled as Eng- land is peopled, twenty times their present numbers. The Anglo Saxon race might go on multi- plying at its present rate for 250 years, and might pour the whole addition to its num- bers into the States, and at the end of that period they would not be more thickly peopled than the Netherlands are now. The States, however, are only one of the countries which are available for European colonists. How thick stand their numbers on the fertile territory of Manitoba, or on the still larger and undeveloped regions whish may be vaguely included in the term Northwestern -America I How little do we still know of our great Australasian teal. tory, and how tnueh of it still remains available for approbation in the coming oenburies I S1---- A Mrs. elugqggs i 'That horrid Mrs. Prilla told Mrs, Noxtdocr that I was a regular old oat. What do you think of that?" Mr. Mugge , I think she never taw you in tine same room with a mouse." (,mean Wilholmina, of the Netherlands, recently celebrated her fourteenth birthday and among the preoonte given to her by her ,mother was a collodion of some thirty largo dolls, each of which was arrayed in rho uniform of an (Alcor of the Dutch army, the object of the Regent being to make hor daughter acquainted with the appearance and eaoouutromentetof the of0oore holding hor commissions. The little (ducat seems to have looked open the present from a frivolous point of view, since she immedia. toly insisted on being provided with an equal number of dolls dressed as ladies of the Court, so as provide entertainment for the officers, who might othetWiee pine for feminine soolety, it