NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE.

COSTLY KISS.INS. A curious case has been attracting attention in the United States. A Yule freshman was in the Newhaven restaurant with a female companion, and while assisting her to put on her cloak he kissed her on the cheek. ' The couple were at ouce arrested by a policeman, and Judge Dowe sentenced the youth to fifteen days' imprisonment for kissing the girl, and a like sentence was imposed on her for being kissed. It is not surprising to learn thnt this curious sentence has been appealed against. A mix op. Dr John Harley, assistant medical superintendent of the Mile-end Infirmary, London, who conducted a post mortem examination on the body of a dock laborer, tells a most extraordinary story, which scarcely seems conceivable. He found that both the lungs were transposed, the right being where the left ought to have been, and the left where the right should have been. The heart, instead of being on the left side of the body, inclined greatly to the right. The spleen was in the wrong position, while the bowels and stomach were completely transposed. Tho liver was on the wrong side, and both kidneys were in their wrong positions. In fact, every organ in themnn's body was transposed. THE CAT TO BLAME. In a house in a village near lieckunham (England) recently, four children contracted diphtheria one after another, and all efforts to trace the origin of the outbreak failed, until the medical officer noticed that the faaiily cat looked sick. This aroused a suspicion in the doctor'smind, and he made an examination of the an.mal, which rc3iilted in the discovery that the cat had diphtheria in a very bad form. The affected children had been in the habit of playing with the cat, and there is no doubt that they caught the disease from the animal. A HOBNY HANDED SON OF TOIL. . A Now South Wales country school teacher recently gave a boy a- question in compound proportion for home work, which happened to include the circumstances of " men working ten hours a day in order to complete a ceitain work." Next morning the unsuspecting teicher, in looking over the little pack of ' exercises, found "Jim's" sum unatttempted, and the following letter enclosed in the page : — " Sur ; I refuse to let Jim do his sum you gave him last nite has it looks to me like a slur at 8-hour sistum enny sum not more than 8 hours he is welcum to do but not more. Yours truly, Abram Blank, Senr." A LIVF.LY PKOSFECT. Mr Austin Chamberlain told a great story lately. A Scotchman, being very ill, doubting whether his doctors were not keeping something from him, instructed his old servant, Donald, to hide himself in the room next to where the consultation of the doctors was to take place, and to tell him what he heard. When the servant came back his master said, " Weel, Donald, man, what do the doctors say?" Donald replied, "Eh, master, they say it is a gey serious case, and awfu' obscure, but it will all be made clear at the post mortem." MAHTIAIj FAMILIES. Much interest has been aroused by the publication of the record of the North family, who have six sons in the army, each six feet or .so in height. The proud father is Mr North, of Newton Hall, Kirkby Lonsdale, who is himself an old Indian officer. Theie are, however, quite a number of such instances extant. A widow lady, Mrs Iddenden, who resides at Eiverhead, near Sevenoaks, has seven sons serving under the Queen's colors. Her husband, too, was a soldier in the 14th Light Dragoons, which he joined in 1858, and in which he served for 28 years. He retired on a pension, but did not live long to enjoy it. There is an old naval man also, at Devonport, Mr John Hoblin, who has seven sons serving in the Koyal Navy. A LITTLE ACCOUNT TO SETTLE. A Boer, shortly after the Jameson Baid, was loudly asserting that they could easily drive the English before them in headlong confusion. An Afghan, a resident of Johannesberg, quietly remarked : "We understand the great English in our country ; . you people did not. Sometimes we have a little trouble, and they send a few men, and we wipe them out ; and yet again we wipe out another lot, and we say we have finished with them. All this time the English have had a little book, putting it all down. Then they add it all up and come to us with a great force, and show us a little account and say, ' Pny,' and we have to. pay. You have had Laing's Nek — it's down in the little book. Xtajuba Hill — that's down in the little book. And Jameson's Baid — that, also, is down in the little book, and it's all added up now, and you'll have to pay. Oh! we know these English." A LUCKY WINDFALL. George Barker James Cooper-Cooper, who was in 1892 sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for killing his wife at Douglas, Isle of Man — a crime which produced a sensational trial — has just been released. He finds awaiting him a fortune, which a correspondent of the ' Mail ' states is estimated at £1,000,000. Cooper, whose father is one of the richest men in the County Palatine, in September, 1891, married at Chester a Miss Edith Cooper, the daughter of -another wealthy man. Twelve months later the wife was found dead, stabbed to the heart in the rooms the couple occupied at a Douglas Hotel. The husband, when arrested, affirmed that he was cutting his nails with a pocketknife when his wife faiuted suddenly, falling on the blade and causing her death. After seven days' trial the prisoner was found guilty of manslaughter. Both Cooper's father and father-in-law were, however, convinced of his innocence, and died leaving him their respective fortunes, which i>re said to make him a millionaire. The released man intends settling in the colonies. A SHJHICAL ROMANCE. Romance born during student days across the seas, and fostered for 15 years, culminated in the marriage at the Police Court of Harlem, U.S.A., of Miss Adele Lewing, pianist and composer, and Mr Benjamin W. Stiefel, a professor in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Although Magistrate Bronn has scruples about exercising his right to marry in the Harlem Police Court, he was persuaded by the young couple to perform the ceremony there. Miss Lewing is a native of Hanover, Germany. It was while a student at the Leipzig Conservatory that she met Dr Stiefel. He was also taking a course in music. Regard lers of differences of religious belief, the two students remained sweethearts from that time. Miss Lewing made her debut, while Dr Stiefel returned to America and established a practice. Miss Lewing studied pianoforte playing under Theodor Leschetizky. She went to America, nnd established her studio in New York City. MONEY IN CAT TAILS. Very few people, probably, are aware that the fur, or vegetable down, of the cat-tail is a marketable article, superior to feathers or cotton for.raany purposes. It is not quite so valuable or useful as eiderdown, but it approaches it very closely and -is cheaper than any of the three. As a matter of fact, a great many people are to-day using articles covered with cat-tail products who fcave no idea where the material comes from. It is a yast extent of country, comparatively speaking, from which the oat-tail is gathered. It comes from the swamps along the numerous creeks that put in from Delaware Bay, from Morris River to Cape May. The average amount gathered in a season is a ton a day. The work of gathering it and transporting it, and then weaving it into the many forms which it must take before coming saleable, constitutes a considerable industry. One of the most elaborate uses to which this material is put is that of covering sofas. Very many of the supposed plush-covered divans are really covered with a fabiic of cat-tail. It wears better than the plu3u and is infinitely cheaper. It is becoming a prevalent custom to use cat-tail or fur on the back of. hand mirrors and brushes, which have heretofore been backed with plush. Some say that the substitute is really proving better than the original. The head rest, too, seen on the easy chair, is often lat-tail— and it is none the less comfortable for that. TELEGBAPH WIRE LAID BY A BAT. As most people know, remarks a writer in the ' Cornhill,' the main telegraph wires in London run through the subways in which the gaspipes and sewers are placed. The principal arteries are so large that it is easy enough for men to wont in them, bat the pipes through'wh'ich the sid.e- wires- branch is; off are' much smaller, and great care has to be taken to preserve the connection between the main

. and the, lateral wires. '. Some years ago men '. were repairing one of these' latter, -and carelessly omitted to attach in to a leading line by which it could be drawn to its place when mended. The blunder seemed likely to have serious consequences, for it was thought that the whole of the lateral pipe would have to be dug np in order to get at the broken wire. But one of the men came to the rescue with a happy thought, suggesting that a rat should be procured, and, with a fine piece of wire attached to it, sent through the pipe. This was done ; but, to the dismay of the workmen, the new hand came to a stop after it had gone a few yards. The inventor of this idea was not yet, however, at the end of his resources, and by his advice a ferret was procured, and started on the dilatory rat's track. There was a moment of suspense before it was settled whether the rat would show fight or run away, but this was soon ended by the paying out of the wire, and in a short time the latest edition to the staff of the post-office appeared at the other end of the pipe. It was caugbt, the wire detached, and then it was set free in recognition of the service it had rendered. By means of the wire the telegraph line was secured, and a long and laborious piece of work saved.