HERE AND THERE.

Evening Star, Issue 11454, 23 January 1901, Page 8

HERE AND THERE.

M • . m || Thus writes Joseph Hatton in one of thffeji Unrest English provincial papers : |3firat volume of a new edition of Fenimor<K M'Jooper has au 'lntroduction' by Mr Mowlg rjbray Morris, an admirably written eßsaywi Epwith a nice appreciation of the subject. (|j ||Specially interesting to me is the reference§| ||to the origin of * The Last of the Mohicans,''fc £|in which troth and imagination are artisti|3 |j:*lly blended. Mr Morris credits ||Sa?an Cooper with this Rciap of literary andj§j J ||per»onel history. In the summer of 18-25 n£s |3pirty of yctinp Eugliahmeu left New Ycrk|l |aon a visit to Lakes George and Champliin. "M j§|Among them was Mr Stanley, uicer-« jgwards Lord Derby and Prime |ijof England, and Mr Wortley, afterwar.L £3 jyLord VVharnoliffe ; and with them iva; H '' Mr Fenimoro Cooper. Up the Hudson, H i» ramble among the Katskills (the scene f;' af Washington Irving'a ' Rip Van j| Winkle'), past Saratoga (now a fashionablt jfs watering place), over the ground of th» $. battle of Lake George that won William \. Johnson his baronetcy, past the dark poo! j| where the bodies of the slain were thrown, |; mon to the ruined fort of Ticonderoga (01 (| IgCarillor, as the French called it from the jj&. ||mu(iical chime of the falls), and finally u «vj giLake Cbamplain. Returning, they halten g |; »t Glenn's Falle, where at a spot betwecL ii ggCaldwell and Fort Edward the Hudson || leapo 60ft in thunder and foam. Here wat p the train laid for the great cove'. Is was ■£ Edward Stanley who inspired Cooper witb che idea of an Indian romance in which those * remarkable caves should have a place, anr t' one is glad to know in reading the defence of % the island so graphically told in tho novtlg. that the scene ia truly described, everjS detail of it laid in with masterly skill, giving!, to the most tremendous chapter of the bookgj a complete impression of reality." gi •"*■• E? The Btnallest, simplest, and best pro-g-5 tected post office in the world is in thegs Straits of Magellan, and has been there foi| ? i many years. It consists ot a small painted }s! keg or cask, and is chained to the rocks olew §j '.he extreme cape in such a manner that its' | floats free, opposite Tierra del Fuego.ffl' | Each passing ship sends a boat to taktW j| letters out and put others in. Never in the Sj' K history of this unique "office" have ittffi; |! privileges been abused. C.i I •+• I] |j With the New Century Spain changed |j methods of computing time, substituting theKJ |i general Earoptan plan wi>h the hours of thegß] I d»y, numbered from lto2t. The decree olfci I the Queen Regent establishing the uewKJ I method provides that for all officiall-i g«d railway purposes time shall bf-|< E regulated by the time of the Green- N E wich Observatory, commonly known as- \j | Western European time. The hour o! M W. midnight will be designated as 24. The I terva', for instance, between midnight (24)£? | *nd 1 o'elock will be designated as 0.05,1] IJO.IO, 0.59. Mid-day will thus become I'M W *-*-• R' 1 The Duke of Cumberland, whose recon-SU 1 '.'iliatioo. with the Kaiser is said to havev' g taken place, is a man of whom English!'? I people know little, though he might nowß ; ; 1 have been the first (.ersouage in the Empiregl a! had his father been born a week i-arlietg,' I thao*he wao. He missed the throne ofsj 8 England by three days, having been bornEs I on M*y 27, 1819, exactly seventy hour*BS I *ftor Queen Victoria. Had the Duke'epl father been born before the Queen he would&i have been King of England instead oi|p merely King of Hanover, and the glorioutg Viotorian era would never have dawned !js The Duke is probably the only living maDJjR !wbo has ever threatened the Queen with a!M lawsuit. It was over the famous Cum-|| berland jewels, which the Queen, afterg,< much hesitation, handed over to her ducaljaj cousin. The Duko is married to Princesslf

KDigmarof Danraatk, of thtf jjt'rinceea of Wales. | u ■ —»-»■« $• H Owing to changes in the railway linf| g c everal villages in South Dakota (U S.)| Shave been cuo off from tho railroad. Tnt-I |reeult is that the villagers have moved to| | the new location. In the towns of Bloom-| aington, Edgerton, Old Platte, Castalia, andl EOld Sulby one- building after another wa?| | put on ekidß and towed Heroes the prairie byl j means of hordes and thresher engines, and| , in one instance & atracture of 40ft by 300ft| [ was movefl three miles, while its contents? •of merchaudiee were not disturbed, anda I crade was being carried on all the time. | j \ The Gas Committee of the |j|(Ecjg.) City Council have appointed a speeia & I -mb-committee to consider and report as tog j .he desirability of recommending the Oonnciif |to purchase a coal mine. Nearly ooo,ooo* j ona of coal or c*nnel' are annually car-| j: bonieed at the Corporation's gasworks, and| ! in advance of neirly 6) p?r ton on the newr contracts would entail an increased annualg [outlay for the r*w nuterial of gas manufac-K [! oure of £IOO,OOO for the current year. K t *-*-» • 1 f: Compressed air motors, in lien of horsefc [paction, aro to be employed for the propul-S |.; sion of the vehicles belonging to the Co,n-| jzpagnie Generale dea Omnibus of Paris. Thef Jaeeeppßry comprpsaing plant will develop! !-.vi!l be stored in the muin receivers at a|; oressure of 1,4001b to the square inch S From these receivers the compreaaed airwill| he couveyed to the distributing stations in| -teel pipes. Each car carries c'cht receivers,! with a total capacity of 88.27 cubio feet,| ..which is estimated to be sufficient to enable! ear to run seven and one-half mileßE :} -vithout recharging, and they cau be re-| ji-marged in three minutes. | I , o-*-o fc ! In the present House of Commons there! I*to,Jn colors. Black, Grey, Green, Brown,! ,']\Vbite, and Roddy ; ornithology is repre-1 Rented by a Schwann, a Finch, and a Martin ;| :l >f mammals there are a Bull, a Hogg, sg | Rare, and a WoilT; poetry i 8 represented! |hy a Burns, a Milton, and a Scott; litera-l icuro by a Whitaker and a J. Penn ; and| ;Jtrade generally by a Cook, a Butcher, a| |Taylor, and a Tanner. The sea is repre-| Rented by a Beach, n Lough, a PierpointJ «>ind a S'lipman ; rural life has its Hill,! "IVlount, Hay, Reed, Dyke, Field, Groves,! Heath, Pirkea, Firbank, and Big-| i|rt.ood ; the legal profession its Liw, Wills.E Bill, aud Perks; and ichthyology it?| jißoehe, together with a Fisher, a Weir, and| «* Walton ; while among the really safe men! '1 f, of course, a Milner. fj a »~*-e I 'J It is considered that tho time occupied in| |taking on passengers at nilway stations ■|k waste, and a well-known engineer hasj JiecordiDg to 'Commerce,' devised a revolv-| !.ng platform by meana of which passengers! ;an enter tho train while it is running at| full Bp?ed. "A spiral starrcase is erected! in the centre of a huge turn-table, which,! jf course, moves very alowlv. By this the! passenger reaches the'main floor. He then! ■Talks towards the circumference. The speed! vt which he io being carried along gradually! ncreases, until at the edge he is travellings *it tho rate of the moving train, which hef | here finds seemingly at rest, and with the! :|doorß open. lie euters, and as the moving! i|platform is left behind the doors are anto-B I'nafcically closed, until the next station ie| •ireached, when they are automatically opened! g»gain." § | The truth of this story is vouched tor byl ||:ho Paris correspondent of the ' Sketch'' :—S |On the occasion of hia visit to Europe witbj Joubett be went to a tailor inl iathat v/aa to cost i'u'. Kruger said: "I [awouhl have given you an "order, but 1 :|cAnnot afford that price. I got this suit in ;-jLnndon for £3 10s." The tailor simply ;s>aame of the firm on the collar V —and, hav';4 ng read it, shrugged his shoulders. lb wa* j-jthat of the moat expensive firm in the West Mrtnd. Joubert turned to Kruger and said : :|'' That was hardly the truth, sir." Kruger ■Replied : " Business is business ; bub as long ;jjis he has bowled me oat I will give him a There be many ways of lying, and Sjjthat was one. ;| •-♦-« | This is how the " now reporter " sets to -Hivork (says the ' Sketch ') when he has to jljleacribe a fashionablQ wedding :—". . . Till death us do part!' The bishop aitopped. Thundered the organ crash through IJdale and transept. A clank of spur—afroul3frou of lace frill and Bwieh ot silk—a glint of :>.white waistcoat—and it was over; another si Anglo-Yankee entente was riveted! * Prince |FnnfuudzwaDzig!' whispered a Society at my elbow. And I had not § seen kim !" Clever, possibly, as long as one ya certain whether an execution is being ii described or the crowning of a monarch.! ■jjPeople don't understand him. That is the anew reporter's strong point—they are afraid' r sto say so. |