FROM THE MAGAZINES

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 37, 12 February 1910, Page 16

FROM THE MAGAZINES

LITTL-13 HOUSIS' C JDBBAMS. O little house with windows wide A-looking toward the sea! How have you come — why hare yon come 'to mean «o much, to ine? Tour walls within Biy heart are raised, And, oh, how • strange it seeme, My hopes but measure to your roof, O. little house o' dreams! 0 little place where friends will come, Ttte taiitled world to flee; Brave little nook where peace will Dlae, And hospitality! Pray Where's the magic wand I need, ' l'o touch your slender beame, And change you to a home Ih truth, 6 little bouse o , dreams? —Claire Wallace Flynn, In "Alnelee's Magazine." to one Who wexnt to carcasSONNB. 1 can scarce believe the ta'-e Borne to mc on every gale! You have been to Carcassonne? Looked its stately towers upon? Trod its streets where, blithe and gey. Knights and dames in bright array Loitered iv the evening glow, Dotted their hats, or curtsied low, When "two Generals," proud as they. Gave "the Blshoj>" right of way? You have been to Carcassonne. Then for you the goal is won; You have grasped the unattalned; What we long for, you have gained. All rutin bo to Arcady— Dear, dream-haunted Arcady; Soon or late, they breathe its air, Jjearn its language, pray Its prayer. Linger there till dreams are done — Yet — few go to Carcassonne. —Julia C. a. Dorr, in "Atlantic Monthly." A MARSHAL'S MISTAKE. Sir Henry Brackenbury, in hie reminiscences in "Blaekwood," relates a couple of anecdotes this month of Marshal MacMahon, who had a reputation for making blunders of speech, due to forgetfulness or absence of mind. It ■was alleged thai when he was told that his Government had been defeated in the Chamber by a majority of one, he said, "If only I knew who he'was, that one!" The other story was that, before inspecting the Military College at St. Cyr, he was told that one of the students was a man of colour, •who was working hard and doing well, but led rather a difficult life among the other students on account of his colour; and th* Marshal was asked to say a few words of encouragement to him. The ■Marshal proposed to do so, and, stopping opposite him in the ranks, said, "Vous etes le nfegrej nest cc pae!" "Oui, Monsieur le Moreehal." "Tres Wen, tres bifeii; continuezj continuez do I'etre." LAUNCHED FROM AN ICEBERG-.

Many unaccounted disappearances oi ships and steamers are attributed to collisions with icebergs, ship 3, and all on board goiEg to the toottom without as much as a remnant left to tell the taie.

One of the most striking iceberg adventures is that which befel the steamer Portia in Notre i>ame Bay. In clear daylight an iceberg was sighted, and passengers and crew begged the captain to approaoh nearer in order that they might inspect and photograph it. The Portia, therefore, -was steered close to the towering 6ides of the mighty berg, whoS« highest pinnacles glistened several hundred feet aijove the sea.

Then the unexpected ha-ppened. There was an explosion, like the shock of a volcanic eruption, and the mighty "berg ■was riven asunder. One of the pieces split apart, crew top-heavy, and toppled over its base, far iiMer water, catching the Portia and lifting her high and dry some ten or twelve feet above the sea.

The mighty overturning of the T>erg created enormous swells, and these huge waves were the only thing that caved the ship from destruction. The weight of the ship caught on its shelf df ice , kept the tierg from turning a complete somersault: and a huge swell picked tip the vessel aad launched her again, stern first in the eea.

This sort of rough launching was, not the kind a ship expects, and the force carried her so far down into the sea that the captain and crew never expected her to come up again. But she battled gravely for her equilibrium, and finally righted herself and steamed away from the dangermiß spot. The whole mishap had taken only a few niinuteflj and before th« crew and passengers had time to catch their breath they had Y en l n t° the jaws df death and out again.—"Harper's." CRIMINAL CHASED TO POLAR SNOWS. Several thrilling stories are given in the "Century Magazine" of the relentless •vVay in which a criminal is traced dovrn by "Canada's Watehdog3," the in«n of the Royal North-West Mounted Police. Many adventurous incidents in the lonely lives of thesa keepers of the outposts of the Empire are vividly related by Miss Agnes Dean Cameron. Here is the story of one of the uneoneidered adventurers in the ordinary rou-nd of police duties in the far NorthWest.

A Lorileux Indian, who is now serving a life sentence in a Canadian prison for the murder of a two-year-old child, had to be tracked down and captured. This is how the work was done:—

"A mounted policeman followed the wretch to a poi-ht nearer the Pole than many explorers reach; and got his man. "The polideman stocked a canoe with provisions, and the long and hazardous journey up the Mackenzie River began. For 1,200 miles the little procession pushed its way along the silent stream. "At the bow eat the Indian, a niahaclecl murderer, looking forward to a lifetime within prison walla. In the stern, paddle in hand, one lonely man, (representing outraged Pax Britannica. "The pair arrived eventually at Regina, where the constable handed over his prisoner, saluted, and fell back three paces. He had no iaport to iriake; there were ho commendations, no fireworks." Another Incident shows a grini police chase which lasted six months. "A fugitive having fled from a ghastly murder committed in the Klondike, Major Constantine sent out his sleuths on the track, and for half a year they followed their man. South from White Horse the constables . dogged their murderer, picking Up their first clue in a little logging camp on Pu<*et Sound.

''The bad man was trailed from Seattle to Butee, thence to Spokane, north to Rosslahd, British Columbia; then at Ogden, Utah, ivo see Canada's ■watch-dogs, and on the Nevada-Califor-nia line.

''Mnally tte hunted man was run to earth rit Laredo, where, waiving extradition, he was carried fo tlie coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and was put on board a British vessel." .