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The East Huron Gazette, 1892-02-18, Page 7aesiassee F[S S� =e•orit 1-19 ca>na C. Munro, an ascenE.`ed the the Canary f Orctava at the top and hr,-. rs with - s doubtf it if ished before. -y formidable usually spend 3 -sin's dank. nd its great - The peak of pars occupies the isands. sorra, of Tene- nonntain has r, El Piton, 1, while the is con ected ✓ ridge, has peak reaches mains upon about four 11,050 feet all the year vapor issue 'both peaks, has never ors, through >veral vests at different risible from e horizon is he coast of t is within t is usually side of the lountaineer !mate, from ic. lamed Lor - s hale re- :unro, how - on his two i gave him they were torial anck 'aides, how - n Switzer- riffe. They 3 a decided d are like- s their em - t upon at - in. When Teneriffe ;mmit was er of snow *low zero. provisions climb the iom suffer - it ascent of .ion of the ,her Mont 3,500 and .n ice axe, tartin at na.de their ->y moon. - unit just to enjoy 61d-fained tis second ;ompan led s_i ladies, !d. They and Mr. t'.e par, for mu' -1 Day. -a to bud ; : Es ower; our, nd, , round, est, P :-p -.tre. se;tssh* )t re cgi. ' larise o, uy per - with week. niay to ore for or rest. rand ons t;her. et 2 kith ; w▪ it hum, itches. ► all ro- bes not 'fable as to skies a good t is not that we $and. moan, rwoe ; can MOUS. ly ems roperly —what of all ii this ifieally 'tended a preli- ending 'books. `sister, ly may Et him quiriei broad- puntry lig let `elt on arta of there f been Army, loves- Eerman iuitig illeged ntent i very LINE OF B3k.1/E MEN. A Reckless Strain in Royal Blood. LARD CH RIES BERESFORD. HE IS ARISTOCRATIC AND POPULAR. tepeated Acts of Gallantry—Baring Ex- ploits in Egypt—Lord of tate Ad- miracy. He BEABS A CH..aMED LIFE. The Beres -lank have always been an un- common breed, and wherever any strain et their blood exists certain qualities' Df theirs are sure to display themselves. Notwithstanding the high social position they have held for centuries, there is some- thing wild and gypsy -like about them, whi h makes them quite different from the ordinary type of British aristocracy. They are not only courageous to the point of utter recklessness, but, they actually love danger more than any other form of excitement. Wnen they can not find a legitimate outlet for this adventurous impulse, they give vent to it in some queer form of eccentricity. Thus, the notorious but curiously popular Marquis of Waterford, Lord Charles Beres - ford's grandfather, earned the name of f6 Spring -heeled Jack ," by his mad -cap ex- ploits in some sort of disguise, in which he used to terrify the country folks and carry DI) all kinds of audacious love affairs. Ho was supposed to wear springs on his feet, by the aid of which he could jump clear from the ground into a first -floor window or leap over the highest wall ; and endless are the ;tones told of his performances. He was Iso the originator of THE MIDNIGHT STEEFLECHASE. the most dangerous kind ot sport ever in- vented; and himself was always the leader of the wild riders in their red nightcaps and white nightshirts. pulled on over their uni- form er evening dress. When the women of England erected the famous statue Duke of Wellington, from the metal of guns cap- tured by the duke in his wars against the French, Punch had a witty cartoon by the celebrated Richard Doyle, representing a statue of Apollo erected by the demi-mon• daises of London in honor of the Marquis of Waterford, from the metal of door knockers and bell handles wrenched off by his lordship in his nocturnal frolics. In short he was a thorough Mohawk and the great est scapegrace in the three kingdoms. N. et, with it all, he was an excellent landlord, a high -brad gentleman and a popular favorite. All his faults and vices were freely forgiven him 4. the sake of his pluck, his open band generosity, and his unmistakable goodness of heart. He died a natural death. That is to say, he broke his neck in the hunting field—quite a natural death for him. His two grandsons, Lord William and Lord Charles Beresford, are woaaerfully like him in appearance and also in many of the characteristic family qualities. They would both have been SPP,.INGHEFT.PD JACKS and brazen Apollos if they had not found the legitimate outlet for their wild blood, ane in the army and the other 7,in the navy. As for William, better known by his so- briquet of " Fighting Bill," he is a pertect lare-devil for desperate enterprises. More cautious officers, or rather officers with more regard for a whole skin, affect to sneer at him as a °' medal -hunter;" and it is a fact that whenever there is a medal or a cross, or any sort of distinction to he earn- ed by intrepid valor, Fignting Bill Beres- ford is bound to have it. If he can not get it in the ordinary course of service he resigns his appointment and volunteers for the post of danger. That is how he got the Victoria cross in Zululand, and that is how he has covered his breast with decorations, each recording some deed of gallantry or some day of glory. Those who are disposed to sneer at his medal hunting can not deny, however, that he shows quite as -much abil- ity as courage. He seems to bear a oharm- ed life, but in truth his judgment is excel- lent, and many a performance of his which looked like an act of foolhardiness, was prov- ed by the result to have been a brilliant piece of military wisdom. His realcapacityis now so fully recognized that he has been appointed military secretary to three vice- roys of India in succession and seems likely to hold that important position permanent- ly, except when he takes a holiday to go medal hunting. He has got into a dozen frightful - SCRAPES ABOUT WOMEN', or about money matters, for he spends as much as two or three general offiders,- but the viceroy and the government have to take him for what he is, a Beresford of the Beresfords, and they are ready to overlook all his escapades rather than Iose ,his ser- vices. - Lord Charles is a better man and a more lovable man than Lord William. A braver man he could not be, but his bravery is of better quality. It is invariably displayed for the benefit of others ; while there is some truth in the charge against fighting Bill that he fights more for Bill than for any- body else. Lord Charles, or Charley Beres- ford as he is invariably called in the navy, never seems to think of himself at all. He is the true hero, ever ready to lay down his life for his queen, his country, his comrade er his fellowman. He entered .the navy at the age of 12 and took to the sea as natur- ally as a fish. Never was there a more typi- eat sailor boy than this early -headed, blue- eyed rosy-cheeked, mischievous, good natur- ad powder monkey. The British midshipman is sup osed to be the ne plus ultra of impu- dence, and Charley Beresford was the ne plus ultra of a British midshipman. He went perfectly wild with delight at being in the navy and on the sea, and no ship he ever tiffs aboard of was half big enough to con- k a the stock of high s'►..rits and animal !r sgnetism that he brougit with him. Luck- ly he had the faculty of ccrnmunieating xis exuberant hilarity to all ranks of his shipmates. Wherever he sailed he was a tniversal favorite. THE BLUE JACKETS ADORED RIM. n their blunt way, and though he kept his he honld plarior y some cers oncrazy ins atriicd nkeethaates lwould Set him into rouble, the more discern - ng among them had no fear on his account nut predicted that he would one day be a rause of pride to the navy and the country. Notwithstanding s.,}1 the influence that his family migh.t have exercised, he grade his way in the service by meritalone. He had Deem ten years in the navy when begot his lieutenant's eommissioan, and joined the Galatea frigate, then commanded by the Duke of Edinburg for a- cruise round the world. ` A young officer of rank and wealth Ind a rollicking disposition could not pos- sibly been exposed to greater, temptation= 10 go weenie in every way, than Charley theatand, While the horses stoodpantmg, up Beresford encountered at. one of " the to their girths in the sea. This little of d labelled ' B British h C 1 b' Toothpicks." duke's gay boys on the Galatea." The' "'there,' he said, wish a beaming smile,_ -more popular:than ever ; _but a more serious These are the largest pieces ever shipped MeV vem 3' der set • them the first s- "hold ou we could et here all safe po y _ pt ly.' matter was ahead. In 1888 he took eaten& from the province. • Bible example, except in the single respect of strictly doing his duty as a navaloffcer ; and wherever they went they were so petted back again?" and pampered by the inhabitants, especially" Oh: they can't go back _by' the road, of the woman folks,that theycoulhardlcourse," he explained, " but what does that have been blamed if they lst their heads matter? All I bargained for was to drive and went to the devil. Their whole cruise yon here safely." was one Ione round of furious dissipation, The result was that they-- had a delightful and Charley- Beresford was the gayest of picnic, but returned in the ship's boats` and them all. He had never - such a chance to a launch had to be sent to bring the coach let himself oat before, and he took his en- :and horses back to Auckland. joyment in allopathetie doses. But there In those days Lord Charles was as good was "a sweet little cherub perched up a j-.ckey as he was a whip, and nothing aloft" that tookthe very best of care of him. 'pleased him better than riding to win at With all his recklessness and any of the local race -meetings. - But his play time was nearly over, and the real work of his life lay close before him. When the rebellion of Arabi Pasha took place in 1852, Charley Beresford held the rank of commander and had just been appointed to the gunboat Condor, with the fleet at Alexandria under Sir Beauchamp Semour, now Lord Alcester. The bombard- ment of Alexandria immediately followed, and then the young commander got his op- portunity. Eearly in the day the, line of battle ship Temeraire grounded and was in great danger ; but the Condor went to her under a galling fire and got her safely off ; with the result that the heavily armed Mara- bout batteries were " Yes," some one replied, "tint how- are which is most unusual in so'young a minist- you ever going to get the coach and horses er. He required that financial provision should immediately be ,nade for raising the strength of the navy to that of any other two naval nations combined. - The cabinet were divided, but Lord Salisbury decided against the proposal at that time, and Lord Charles Beresford took the dignified course of retiring from the ministry. - He went to the ..lediterranean in com- mand of ,. magnificent ship, the Undaunt- ed, where he was probably much happier than at Whitehall. But his . policy has since been fnlly adopted by Lord Salisbury's ministry, mainly through Mr. Goschen's in- .fluenee ; and wherever a bold heart and a good, clear bead in naval affairs are needed in future, whether in council or in war, the nation will not be at any loss to know where to seek them. The curly -headed powder -monkey is unquestionably the man of the futrre in the British navy. INSATLABLE APPETITE FOR FUN, the young fellow had a simple Minded honesty and a natural goodness of heart that always kept him- perfectly safe. Not one of the duke's companions went the pace more gorgeously than he did. Yet not one of them left so fair a record, or such warm and lasting regard as he did in every place they visited. The Duke of Edinburgh, who knows a good fellow when he meets one, as well as anybody living, took cordially to his junior lieutenant and formed for him one of those immovable friendships for which he is noted. This, in spite of the fact that Charley Beresford was the plague of bis life. Whenever a scampish antic was played on the Galatea it was quite unneces- sary to inquire who was the culprit. Charley was pretty sure to be at the bottom of it, and if he wasn't he was always ready to take the blame. Once, and .nce only, he came very near making the duke very angry indeed. The Duke of Edinburgh is an en- thusiastic musician, and his cabin on the Galatea was furnished with severalsuperb instruments, among them a particularly fine harmonium, at which he spent almost all his leisure time when on board his ship. One Sunday in port, when he was supposed to be on a visit to the Governor, he unex- pectedly returned and went straight down to his cabin. There he saw a scene which might have led to the supposition that a torpedo had exploded in the interior of his harmonium. The precious instrument was all to pieces, and the pieces were scattered in hopeless confusion all. over the cabin floor. 1'o increase the -Duke's bewilderment Charley Beresford, with his coat and waist coat of% and bis SHIRT SLEEVES TUCKED IIP, was on his knees in the midst of the wreck working away at the keyboard or some other vital part, with an enormous screw- driver, while the. ship's carpenter was la- borously manipulating another fragment. "What the blankety blank are you do ng here, you young son of a sea cook," shouted the Duke, "and who the blazes has been smashing my harmonium ?" " Oh, is that you, sir ?" said Charley Beresford, as cheery as a lark, jumping up from his knees and saluting. "You said she hadn't been steering as well as she ought lately, so I got hold of Chips and we've been unshipping her gear to see wether we couldn't make her go right. If you hadn't come off till to -night, we'd have had her refitted, and you'd never have known, except for her going so well after- ward." The evident sincerity of the con- fession, and the comical figure of the lieut- enant, with his red face and his " shes " and "hers " were too much for the Duke's anger. He burst out laughing, and with his really skilled assistance, Charley and Chips man- aged to put the disintegrated instrument to- gether without damaging "her" to any serious extent. At the same time the Duke warned his young friend that if ever he touched any of his musical belongings again he would assuredly throw him overboard, and he might think himself lucky if he didn't keelhaul him. Suoh a threat as that, however, even if it had been serious, would have had little terror for Lord Charles Beresford. He never yet has been made to understand that there can be any danger in salt water—for him. No one is more keenly alive to the fact that other people are liable to be drown - e 1; but for himself, it never strikes him in that way. Three times he has JUMPED OVERBOARD and saved a life at the imminent risk of his own. On one of those occasions he did a thing which, but for its success, would just ly have been called culpably and absurdly rash. The ship was at Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, a very stormy place, and Lord Charles was just ready to go ashore on a shooting expedition. He was dressed in a thick suit of clothes and long, heavy boots, and he bad enough cartridges about him to weigh down a diver. At this mom- ent a marine lost his footing in the gangway fell over -board, and, not being able to swim was rapidly carrioel away by the tide. The moment the alarm was given Charlie Bere- ford leaped over the side, clothes, boots, cartridges, and all. Down he went, but up he came again, and struck out lustily for LITERALLY POUNDED TO PIECES. by the shells from the two ships. The Temeraire was too big to close in, and would have been too much exposed to the Egyp- tian guns to make gond shooting at short range. But Charley Beresford ran his lit- tle boat right in under the batteries and poured his fire into them till the astonished gunners bolted for their lives. The whole fleet saw it and sent up round after round of cheers, and Admiral Seymour, -a grim old sea -dog who never wasted a bit of senti- ment on anybody, could not refrain from running up asignal, " Well done, Condor." Later in the day, the Condor was ordered in • shore to defend the palace from Arabi's victorious troops, and Lord Charles per- formed this duty so well that he not only rescued the Khedive from certain death, but saved the city of Alexandria from total destruction. For that day's work, -Admiral Seymour got the thanks of Parliament, a peerage, and £25,000 ; whil-Charley Beres- ford, who certainly did the best of the work, was proud and glad to get a silver medal and a post -captain's commission. Two years later he was in the thick of the fighting of the Soudan, where he com- manded the naval brigade, and where he had an almost unique experience. At the terrific conflict of Abu Klea,where Sir Her- bert Stewart's force encountered an ever - whelming host of Arabs, Lord Charles and his men had charge of the machine gun which mowed down the enemy in heaps,and did a great deal to save the whole force from annihilation. When: the battle was ever and the appalling "butcher's bill" was taken -count of, it was found that every man in charge of the Peachipe gun had been killed except. Lord Charles ergsford. ,There were ;. BY MAURICE E. M'LAUGHLIN. _ no wounded. The fighting had been too close for that. ALL WERE DEAD EXCEPT THE CAPTAIN, The Last Man. The probably fate of the last man is a subject that has often been discussed ; of about a dozeu solutions of the question, seven of the best are summarized below :- 1. The surface of the earth is steadily di- minishing ; all the landed portion will at last be submerged and the last man will be drowned. 2. The ice is gradually accumulating at the North Pole and slowly melting at the South ; eventually the earth's centre of grav- ity will change and the last man will be kil- led by the rush of movables when the catas- trophe finally comes. 3. There is a retarding medium in space, causing a gradual loss of velocity in all the planes. The earth. obeying this law of gravitation, will be drawn nearer and near- er the sun, until at last humanity will be roasted from the face of the globe. 4. The amount of water on the earth's surface is slowly drying up. Finally the earth will be an arid waste, like the moon, and the last man will die pleading for a drop of moisture with .which to wet his ton- gue. 5. A gigantic planet is lik ely to tumble into the sun at any time. In that event our great luminary would blaze up and burn the earth and the other planets in its train to cinders. 6. With the beginning of the year 3000 A. D. the human family will commence to retrot►rade and within 1,000,000 years from that date man will not be higher in the scale of nature than the plant louse of to -day. In this case there will be no " last man." 7. The sun's fires will gradually burn out, and the temperature will cool in conse- quence. The earth's glacial zone will` en- large, driving shivering humanity towards the equator. At last the habitable space will lesson to nothing and overcrowded humanity will be frozen in a heap. The Conductors Story. who stood among the piled up corpses, still ready to work his gun or do any—other duty that lay to his hand. He was not even touched,, and it was no wonder that his men believed him invulnerable. When the remnant of the little army marched for- ward to Gubat, thepost of honor, that is to say, of danger, namely , the command of the 7fereba, or desert fort, in which the wound- ed and disabled soldiers and all the muni- tions of war were left, was intrusted to Lord Ch irles Beresford, . who bravely and cheer- fully held it until relief arrived. His greatest .xploit of all remains to be recounted. Sailorlike,.he firmly believed that the way to take Khartoum and rescue General Gordon was not by land, but by water ; and having helped to get the boats up the Nile, he took a little unar por- ed steamer, fitted with a couple of ma- chine gens, and boldly made for the forts of Khartoum. There he found another al earner which had gone up before him. and most foolishly returned, wrecked, in the river and in a most perilious condition. He rescued all of her people, and, as his boilers were by this time shot through, he coolly anchored` under the forts for a day and a night, keeping them under control with his machine guns, while his Scotch engroeer patched the boilers. Such another piece of work has never been done under such cir- cumstances in any part of the world, and it was nothing short of a marvel that a soul survived to tell the tale. To his infinite dis- gust his gallantry was thrown away, except for the example it gave to others. He was ordered to retire and the SEIGE OF KHARTOUM WAS abandoned ; whereas, if Lord Charles Beres- ford had been allowed his way, there is no the struggling marine, "Hold on Joey !'� doubt;•the Mandi would have been driven out he shouted, I'll soon be along -side of you." of Khartoum, Gordon would have been saved "Joey" managed to splutter and kick for and the course of history in upper Egypt a minute so, without actually going under, would have been changed: and by the end of tbat time Lord Charles Lord Charles had been a member of Par had a strong grip of his collar and was liament .for: six years before this, but had swimming against the tide with him like a been too much on active service to take any Newfoundland dog with a lobster in its part in politica. On his return from the mouth. Both were as nearly as possible Soudan, however, he was elected by a me - drowned before they were picked up, and tropolitau constituency, and aroused =- drowned could have saved the marine if mense interest by his appearance in the there had not been a brave and a powerful House of Commons, with his honors fresh hand to hold his head above water during upon him. The idea of Charley Beresford that terrible interval. Lord Charles has being a serious politician had never entered took the gained enough medas for killing people to Housedbysstorm by the ablbut he est speech on the satisfy even Fighting Bill since then ; but naval estimates that had ever been made. none of them do gold medals of the him more good than ' the HiS broad -shouldered oratory and his nauti- cal phrases delighted his hearers, while his ROYAL HIIMANE SOCIETY. deep • earnestness and complete, mastery of and the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane the subject commanded their respect. He Society, respectively, which are only given rose at once to the position of an authority, for saving life at sea at the actual risk of and the next year he was taken into Lord one's own. Salisbury's ministry as junior lord of the One other anecdote of his merry youth adntiralty. Everybody begun to realize by may be mentioned here. Unlike most sail- this time that "Charley "Beresford was not ors, but just like all Beresfords, he is an ex- by any means the thoughtless flibberty-gib- cellent hand with horses, and rides and bet that he seemed to be. Yet at this most drives just as well as he sails a striper hand- responsible period of his life he did a thing les a grin. His favorite team is four-in-hand ; which was quite in his own style. He had and when the Galatea was at anekland he married some years before a dear; good, undertook to drive a party of brother officers' Pretty girl whom he was just as much in and ladies to a picnic in one of the numer- love with as.ever ; and being one clay on ons bays in which that beautiful harbor board the Queen's yacht at Portsmouth, in abounds. All who knew anything of the 'his official capacity, with the Queen, he saw locality assured him it was not practicable another yacht go past, on board of which he to, get anywhere near it with a four in -hand knew his wife was. Never thinking of drag, because it was nothing bat a secluded what he was doing he ran up a private beach at the foot of a steep cliff with no signal road in either,direction. Lord Charles in- CONVEYING A MESSAGE TO HIs WIFE sided, however, that he had taken an ob- ja he had been cn his own quarter - servation of it with his glass from the fri gate, and that it was perfectly feasible to deck on the_Condor. What the signal was drive there. The whole party agreed to has never been made. public, but those who flak it,smid peals of laughter ; for, some - asking say it -consisted of certain code words how, everybody had a sort of blind faith in asking Lady Charles to keep two dances for his - luck. The event showed that it him at the ball to be given at'Portsmouth wasified after a fashion. He that night. The next thing he knew he was sasTprtzrD ids FREEST S. under arrest for violating the regulation which forbids any-: private signal to' be made nearlyout. of their lives by driving them from a royal acht. He immediately laced down azigzzaagg track-, through`a thicket of the resignationof his ministerial office and trees on the edge of a sheer precipice, and his naval rank in the queen's hands, only to landing them with -a tremendous bump on receive them back next day with a gracious rebuke for his faux pas. is tt a bit human nature made him °`- When a man has been railroadin' twents, long years He gits kinder hardened an' tough An' scenes of affliction don't trouble him much, Causo his natur' is coarse -like an' roue h. But a scene that took place in my train one cold night - Would a' melted the heart of a stone, An' among the adventures which I have been through That night jist stands out all alone. "'Twas a bitter cold night an' the train was jam full, Every berth in the sleeper was taken ; The people had jist turned in for the night An' the train for New York was aenakin', When, jist as the people to snore had begun An' I with a satisfied sigh Had sat down in a chair for a short rest. I heard The sound of a young baby's cry. " It was one o' those load, aggravatin'-like yells 0' the pattern that makes you jist itch For a gnu or an axe an' excites up your mind With wild thoughts o' murder an.sich. It went through that car an' I needn't remark That the snorin' stopped right there an' then An' that sleeper was filled with a billin' hot crowd 0' mad women and wild, swearin' men. The curtains ji=t then that concealed berth 16 Were opened an' out came a man, As fine a young fellow as ever I seen, But his face was all white -like an' wan. Ho carried the kid that was raisin' the row, An' commenced welkin' down through the aisle A-tryin' to stop its loud screechin'—but pshaw! It seemed to get wuss every mile. "An idea seemed to strike one old feller jist then, An' he said to the pale -faced young man, ' It seems to me, stranger, that kid could be stilled By a, simple an' feasible plan ; The noise tbat it's makin' betrays what it needs— The child wants its mother, that's plain ; An' why don't you call her? Ten chances to one, She's s:eepin' somewhere on the train.' A look then carne over that young father's face, A look full of anguish an' pain; A'.00a that will haunt me as long as I live, As long as I work on a train ; An' he answered that man in a hoarse, stifled voice That sounded as though from afar— "Her mother is sleeping aboard of this train In a box in the baggage car."' Mosses From an Old Manse. BY GEO. THOS. DOWLING, D. D. The Minister's wife had just finished her chores, By calling on, all the church people ; And some she'd found open as both the church doors, And some she's found stiff as the steeple. For while all the deacons had slept on the wall, A committee had come like a lion ; And by giving her husband a generous call, Had shaken the bulwarks of Zion. For years they had paid him who taught them the Word, About six hundred dollars' or seven; For they felt that a preacher should " trust in the Lord," And grow fat on the "manna from Heaven." And so the cash question had come to an- noy with so many ministers rankles ; For the Lord had sent children ; three girls and a boy, And the boy—hollow down to the ankles. Sister Blodgett, the wife of "a pillar," had cried. (They supported a carriage and horses). "Beware! lest you sin against God," she had, sighed ; "A ronin stone gathers no mosses." The preacher looked up from the book which he read, And his merry eyes twinkled with laughter. " Why didn't you tell sister Blodgett," he said, - " That moss isn't what we are after ?" . =[PTewYork Independent. British Oolnmbia 'Toothpicks. The British Columbia Mill, Timber and Trading Company shipped last week some large spruce timber for dredges for the Mon- treal Harbor Commissioners. One piece is 36 inches square-, 63 feet long; three pieces 36 inches square, :68 feet Tong ; five pieces 14 by 16 Inches, 80 feet long; twelve other pieces over 60 feet long. - Three care are required for the longest pieces, which are ritis ' o um is OOMPAEAIIVE VITALITY. ThE Great and mysterious problem Wby Some Live Longer than Others. There are families, beyond doubt, as w as individuals, over whom disease seems t no power who are either exempt from -ill ness or survive it as if it were but an amo tion, who, apart from accident, always fol fil the years of the Psalmist, and usual! die only because the still unbroken machin has exhausted its stock of motile power Doctors, when called in to such persons, ar cheerful, assure the friends th there will be a rally soon, and would-iike, i they dared for the credit of their craft, to administer as little medicine as possible They have not an idea as to the reason. un less it be ° • hereditary predisposition," or in a few eases, a cheerful temperament : bu they know quite well that in such patient there is " recuperative power," and as the like cures, partly out of kindness and part from self-interest, they are well conteII And there are also families as well as indivi duals, in whom the life lies low,about whose " attacks," however slight they may appear the doctors always shake their heads, and of whom when among themselves, they will remark : "The Blanks have a constitutions habit of dying." Such people rarely live to be more than middle-aged ; they never attain old age; and when they die they the unexpectedly, most frequently in the first stage of convalescence, from what is called a "relapse." Some- thing is wanting in them which furnishes their rivals with staying power ; but then, what is the something? It certainly is not size, for giants die rather rapidly, and the men who are dear to insurance societies are usually of the medium build, or even a little under it, their weight in particular being for the most part -slightly below aver- age. Fatness is weakness more or less. And it is certainly also not identical with physical strength, for athletes are scarcely ever hong-lived ; women have, on the whole, if we deduct their mortality from child-bearing, more vitality than men, and very feeble men, in the athletic sense, con- stantly attend the funerals of far stronger juniors. Nor does the vitality arise from any superior strength of brain. The able often live long and often die young. The great lawyers and theologians, men of abnormal acuteness, often reach a vast age ; as do gamekeepers and country clergymen, with neither of whom is the brain very active or often fatigued. The greatest living poet is as old and as healthy as Mr. Gladstone, and the last centenarian recorded, or last but one,. was ,a sort of res- pectable female tramp. Sir Moses Monte- fiore, who died at 101, was a most acute - minded man, and so was Henry Martyn, the senior Wrangler who turned missionary, and after a life of travel not unlike that of Sir Moses died of exhaustion just 70 years younger. There is a fancy abroad among the cultiv- ated that very stupid men do not reach great age, but if they ask a few masters of work- houses and the managers of the great char- ities, they would find that is an error. Nor can the quality be accurately traced to any conditions or method of life. The very old are often intensely vivacious, but they are often also very dull, occcasionally almost imbecile. The rich, according to modern theories, ought to possess the highest vital- ity; but as a matter of fact it belongs, tak- ing all the world, to negroes who were slaves in the West India Islands, and in England to gamekeepers and excessively poor wo- men. The only facts we certainly know about habits as conductive to vitality are that freedom from anxiety is favorable to it, pro- bably by conserving the pumping power of the heart, and that it is in a rather singular degree hereditary, the capacity of living surviving in many families the most violent changes in the habits of each generation, even the most violent changes in residential climates. `Those who cling to life intensely often die early ; while the indifferent live on till death seems to have finished that furrow and yet passed them by. No ; vitality is not synonymous with strength of will, though it must be on the evidence, a non -material quality. It is more like a "gift" than anything else, like that strangest of all capacities, the feeling.for music, which must be in a measure spiritual yet has absolutely no mental force, being as often wanting in the ablest as in the stupi- dest of mankind. What is the source of the gift we none of us know, and probably never shall, for we cannot hope to accumu- late more experience than the great physicians have done, and they frankly con- fess that in every patient there is some quality making for death or survival that they can only recognize, without pretend- ing to understand it. we The Romanoff Family—The Influenza in o London—The Popes HeaWh. • The deterioration in the Reinianoflis as `a- family is again forced upon public notice by'.` y the death .of the. Czar's_uncle, the Grand e Duke Constantine, who was laid yesterday • in the crowded interior of the fortress atchurch of Saints Peter and Pani, where un - f der huge marble coffins, covered with red velvet palls, all theaeions of --his. race • since Peter sleep. Constantine, like the other . sons of Nicholas was much sue t perior in intellect to the present gen- s eration,' but, more than this, he had i a finer mind than any off his brothers.- To 6. his inspiration was largely doe the liberal - imrulses characterizing the earlier years of his brother Alexander's reign. He accepted the Governorship of Poland thirty year; ago, with the loftiest agitations to do good to that unhappy country. How his efforts were neutralized by the ecoundrelfcm of his -Russian assistants and the ia.t.fr'ection provoked by the very agencies he relied on for peace may be told some day, if his talene ed second son and n+ntesake finds himself free to do so. The plague of influenza is not etsyed, but - increases. In London the death rate has risen to forty-six. Deaths from influenza are twice as many as last week, not counting those of which this malady is the indirect cause. Alt ogether there were 3, 761 deaths in London, which is 1,762 above the average In other parts of England things are even worse, though some provinces are almost exempt, and in some great cities the death rate is less than usual The Government is stirring—if stirring be the word to apply to a movement so deliberate. The President of the Local Government Board is in com- munication, whatever that may mean, with the President of the Royal Colledge of Phy- sicians. It is probable that some form of inquiry will be agreed upon by the time the epidemic has ran its course. There is still grave uncertainty as to the actual state of the Pope's health. Quite ex- plicit denials that he is ill are being eiren- lated, apparently upon the authority of the Vatican official. On the other hand. Roman Catholic prelates in this and other coun- tries are getting reports which prepare them for news of his death any day. When it ie remembered how the last illness and death of Popes has been historically a matter for mystery, often reaching the point where charges were made that the death was con- cealed for days after occurred, it is not to be wondered at that it is difficult now to get at the entire facts. 1 "Boots and Saddles!" - WILL T. JAMES. What trooper ever mustered on the field Where battle wrests the trophies lost and won, Exposed to peril, with but Fate to shield— A living target for the foeman's gun, Has felt no thrill when, on a. darksome night, When foretelt omens—why, he can't ac- count— Seemed unto him predicting afieree fight, The starting trumpet sounds the call to mount? - It may be for some venturous raid or, worse, The interception of a midnight march ; He seldom knows the risk ; commands are terse No time has he to guess. The lantern torch Illumes familiar things as be equips ; His eyes rest tenderly on those from home. Perchance he lifts a keepsake to his lips, Remembering one he left, in youth, to roam. White saddling for the expedition, he Forgets he ever had a home ; but when Tho ; 'n.zdron forward trots, and thought is • fro.. To conjure up old memoriesagain, He then bethinks him of the journey's end, From which alive he never may return To camp, to home, to mother or to friend, Nor to that one for whom his heart doth. yearn. War's but a game of chance—the wager, life. As some must lose and others win at dice. So must some die and some survive the strife ; The bullet finds its billet in a trice. Among the dead and dying have been found Both steed and rider that obeyed the call Of " Boots and Saddles" near the marshalling ground. With corpse for comrade—darkness for a pall. Bnt there's exhilaration in its notes For him who has to warfare been inured ; The pulse of courage recklessness promotes, Nor ,et hi'n flinch when hardship is endured. Music hath more in it than soothing charms ; It can arouse as well as lull to sleep ; Its brazen tongue can trumpet war's alarms, And eyes it oped to laughter cause to weep. - Two Eye -Witnesses. Policeman—Who bunged your eye in way ? Sufferer-Moike Flynn: " Was there an eye -witness ?" " Indade there was." "Who was it ?" - " Moike Flynn." I mean, was there anybody else pre sent V' °° Indade there was." " Who was it?" ' _ " Meself, bedad. that A REMARKABLE CAREER. An English Convict Marries An Heiress. - •A long and interesting accout of the re- markable career of Frederick George Bar- ton, an expert criminal and a native of Tunbridge Wells, is given in a Kept paper. The quiet little town of Burgess Hill (says the account) has recently been startled out of the dull decorum of its existence by the fact that a gentleman living- in one of its most eligible villas, and who was recently married to a young lady of fortune to whorrie= he was introdueed in Canada, is none other than a clever and dangerous convict who had failed to report himself to the police, and had been occupying his leisure by the perpetration of wholesale burglaries of a similar skilful and DARING DESCRIPTION to those for which he has already undergone two terms of penal servitude. Barton was born at Tunbridge in 1858 of respectable working-class parents, and at 12 he was committed for five years to Red Hill Re- formatory for embezzlement. After staying in (and robbing) a Boys' Refuge in London, young Barton went to Tunbridge Wells, and stole £17.000 worth of securities by a burglary in the house of a clergyman who had befriended him. He was taken and sentenced in 1876 (aged 18) to ten years' penal servitude. Four year later, in the December of 1880, with 'six yeara of his sentence unexpired, Barton was again in Tunbridge Wella, much to the astonishment of the police, who found him in possession of a free pardon from the Home Secretary. The manner in which this was obtained is perhaps one of the most audacious to be found recorded in the criminal calender. It appears that Barton persuaded a fellow -con- vict, whose term had nearly expired, that he had come into large estates in India: worth £20,000 per annum, in addition to £175,000 hard cash ; and this convict, o:> his release STIMULATED BY THE PROMISE of a liberal reward, signed a petition ot the Home Secretary praying for the release of Barton on this ground, and also on account his extreme, youth. The petition was sent in a letter, which, although posted in India, was doubtless a forgery ; and although the facts have never been traced, there is little feason to doubt that Barton concocted the letter, and, with the connivance of some friend, had it posted. from Fort -George, with the signature of a resident chaplain there, which was also forged. The moat as- tonishing fact remains. The Minister was Sir William Harcourt. We next hear of him STEALING VARIOUS ARTICLES. By this time the family of the unfortunate Mrs. Barton had been stripped of nearly very penny by Barton, and left in an al- most destitute condition plus the burden of Barton's liabilities. It is understood that n their return to Canada Mrs. Barton will eek a divorce. Even after his marriage Barton kept up a correspondence with lad- es with a view to marriage, and paid per- onal attention to others. He made the ac- uaintance of a youfag lady, the daughter of well-known clergyman, residing. near Lon - on, who was staying in Brighton with her mother and paid her marked attention. Meeting her on the Brighton Front, Barton invited her to accompany him in his dog- cart when he drove to Burgess Hill; to see bout his letters. Arriving at Cedar 1 odge arton and the young lady were arrested a . gether, and both taken to the police Latton. The lady was looked upon as an complice, and the police would not release er from detention until her explanations were verified and found to be correct. The oung lady was released from her most un- leasant predicament late in the evening, and will not probably forget her drive with on and its sensational ending. At the ecent assizes at Lewes Barton was indicted for burglary, and found guilty of receiving oode well knowing them to have been stei- n, and was sentenced to *tredve years' penal ervitude. But as he is even now -only . lrirty-two or thirty-three years of age, it is - Site possible that this plausible criminal 11 be heard of again in the future. e 0 s $ q a d a B to s ac h y p Bart g e s t q wi The confidence im•a rt2ere to ldreself as a faith curet •