GREEN LIGHT FOR THE EYES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4295, 2 March 1901, Page 3 (Supplement)

GREEN LIGHT FOR THE EYES.

In the new switch tower in the Grand Central yard, New York city, the windows are of green glass. It is a groat protection to the eyes of the employees, and enables them to keep their vision at its normal strength at all times. The switch tower contains 176 levers, which operate the switches and signals by compressed air. ‘

Sir Samuel Baker gives the weights of the largest African elephant tusks ho ever saw as 172 and 188 pounds respectively. Tiffany and Company, of New York, have now a pair weighing respectively 224 and 230 pounds. Their corresponding sizes, are length 10ft o;|in. and 10ft 3jin; circumference, 23ia and 24iin. The tusks of tho extinct elephasganosa were sometimes 12ft tin long, and 2ft 3in around.

Dr J. B, Coheai, of Yorkshire College, Leeds (Eng.), recently read a paper before a scientific society in London, in which ho vigorously pleaded lor pure air, as wo had not in vain pleaded for pura water. Ho had studied the que--tion very fully. To determine the amount of soot, he filters the air through cotton wool, which he finds preferable to asbMtos, though owing to its hygroscopic character ono plug must be weighed against another. Most of his experiments date back to 1894. Over the four square miles of Leeds, 800ewt of soot were suspended at any moment, 1.2 milligramme per cubic foot. Twenty tons of soot went up into the air daily, which meant a waste of £3OO worth of coal annually. To this we had to add the higli washing bills, which he had taken pains to compare for town ana country, and all the discomforts. One-half per cent, of tho coal burned in works went away as soot; the domestic heiarth contributed 5 per cent, of the whole soot amount. Tho soot contained 1.3 per cent, of oil ; hence the sticky nature of tho soot. In town 24 times as much soot fefll cu snow' as nine miles away from it, as tests made with glass plates showed. One quarter of English daylight was shut out by soot.

Tho Victorian issue of Commonwealth postal cards has proved a great success, no fewer than 230,000 in all six colonies being now in circulation. The department intends to. continue to print the cards, so long as the public demand warrants. Tho intimation, published in “Tha Age” a fortnight ago with regard to the £1 and £5 series of slightly post marked Victorian stamps, the department has since sola 81 sets. The supply is running very low, and no more will be printed. Victoria is the only colony which, lias gratified philatelists by substituting a light post mark for r.he objectionable wood ‘‘specimen,” in order to prevent, the’special sets now on sale getting into circulation before 30th June. Mr Gurr is expected ;to authorise • the issue of the new postage stamps marked “A.C.’’ (Australian Commonwealth) at an ea: ly date.

The. following advertisement has been insert I'd in leading Church of England journals in London:—“Jubilee of Canterbury New Zealand. . Completion of Cathedral as Memorial. Already built, nave, tower, spire, and walls of unfinished portion. To finish, transepts, choir, sanctuaries, and vestries. Amount required, £15,000. Already subscribed locally, £9,000. ' Patrons in England, Marquis of Norrrfanby, Viscount Cobhain, Earl of Glasgow, Earl of Onslow, Bishops of Ely, Lichfield, Rochester, Salisbury, and Winchester. Contributions towards balance of £6OOO will most thankfully be received by the bishop's commissary.” The Rev. J. F. Teakle, the bishop’s commissary, has written .to “The Times,” appealing for contributions. . • • • 1 * »

An English exchange, .to hand by the last- mail, reports -that almonds have advanced 60-per cent, -in price owing to the Sicilian crop this. year being only about 25,000 packages, compared with 75,000 packages last year—which is about the average for the preceding years. At Bari, on the mainland, the production lias decreased frond 100,000 packages last year to 15,000 in'the present year. Large quantities are destitute of kernels, and it is estimated that from this cause alone there will' be a loss of 10 per cent, on the crop gathered. The exceedingly high i dee is maintained: a slight fall was c casioned a short time since by the ai ival at Catania of 500 packages of almor s from Morocco, but the decline in pri< '.s was but temporary.

Son, a pleasant and gentle letteirs .written by Ruskiu to the.“ Rose Queens" of the GUls’ High Schpol at Cork have been published in the periodical of the Ruskin Society at Birmingham. He established ah annual “Rose” fete for the school, and eaeh year a Rps© Queen was -selected, to wjidm Ruskih gave a gold cross, as also a set ofbound books to present to her maidens; From time to time he would .send,also pieces of geld and silver, uncut diamonus, and precious stones.. In-one of his -letters to the girls ho _ says :. “The chief • • danger for young girls in this great city ‘today’ of their own and the world’s age is the temptation to restlessness, whether in curiosity, pleasure or pride. I want them all to he earnestly, thoroughly intelligent of what is- close to them and under their care-happy not in one day as the* happiest of their lives, but in the daily current of their time; andproud in rightly knowing what they have joy in knowing, and rightly doing whatever they are called upon—not by fame, but by love—to do for any who love them, for all who are dependent upon them.”

The annual consumption of lemons in the United States amounts to about 6,000,000 boxes. In 1896, Italy and Spain supplied 4,700,000 boxes of lemons, and 000,000 boxes ware grown, in California. Last year there were imported from Mediterranean countries 3,800,000 ~ hexes of lemons, and 1,200,000 boxes of the fruit came from the Pacific coast. This year, says a trans-Atlantic authority, the importation of lemons will be considerably smaller than ever before, and, provided the present high standard of tha Californian fruit is maintained, the growers of the State will in the course of a few seasons succeed in driving the Mediterranean lemons from our markets, just as theiy have driven out foreign prunes and raisins. Rough estimates put the capital invested 1 in California in growing and) curing lemous with all the appurtenances at 4,500,000 dollars.

A Boer, or at all events a pro-Boer, has been writing to a leading London paper. Ho says “Your Empire is but a huge soap bubble, floating majestically iu the air; a mere bubble that will be annihilated dt the first shock of a. European war. Whilst other nations rclst on the solid rock of conscription, all their manly citizens being disciplined soldiers, you hire only tho stunted dregs of your debased! and degraded population, who are drilled for parades and reviews only. When compelled to face a few thousand armed Afrikanders you were foiyedi to shriek for volunteers to come from all parts of the) earth to help you.” Well, hard words break no bones, and if the Empire is a bubble, it is, as the writer remarks, a very majestic one, and one that into the bargain will take a lot uf breaking.

A new sort of confidence business trick is flourishing in Victorian country districts. A man travels around the farmers offering soap at £1 per box, with, given in, 40 yards of carpet, to be chosen from samples carried in the van. Thd operator Ifcgves tho soap and drives off with the £l, promising to return with the carpet iu a day or so. But he is, of course, seem no more, whilst the «iap buyers find the' stuff they have paid their money' for mere worthless rubbilk.

count ct the large volume of water tributary to it being absorbed by irrigation enterprises. The Jordan and Bear Rivers, City Creek, and other tributaries ri.sd in tho mountains to tho east, and before they aro intercepted by irrigation ditches poured into the lake the year round about IO.OUu cubic feet a second. It is interesting to learn that a similar condition now exists in tho Dead Sea, Palestine. The sea was formerly much larger than at present, as is shown by the old beaches, stretching at various levels along the basin. Since the middle of the century its level has been very slowly rising, till quite r<centlv. hut now it is falling. '1 hi= shrinkage of Great Salt Lake is ■ not due to natural causes, but to the increasing quantity of water taken from Jordan and smaller streams by farmers, who aro diverting all they can get to their lands. Some of the salt deposits covering the bottom of the lake may now he seen above the water in shallower places and near tho shores.

When General Warn- was Commander-In-Chief of the Bombay Division he once gave a luncheon-party at Poona, where about foity officers were present. The only lady who graced the gathering was Mrs Warre, who sat at tho other end of the table. Now the General, in the course of conversation, often addressed his wife, and, whenever he did so, called her “Joy.” Amongst tho guests was a young subaltern, by name Macdonald, who talked on every subject which arose. This youth suddenly startled tho. guests by saying to the General—-“ 1 say, who’s ‘Joy,’ General?” Th*|* was an. awful pause, and tho General said very slowly and distinctly—-“ Joy, Mr Macdonald, is a- pet name I sometimes give mv wife.’ “Quite right, too, General,” sang out tho unabashed subaltern. "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever!” This remark saved the. situation.

Do fishes talk? Professor Sollicker, a Continental scientist; says mey do. It is a strange pronouncement, because the finny tribe has always been regarded as a silent race, the only member of it, perhaps, possessing any audible voice being the conger eel, which has been, known when caught to utter a hoarse bark. In the course of investigations the Professor, clad in a diving suit, was lowered in an iron cage, lighted by electricity, to. the bottom of the Mediterranean. He took with him a phonograph, with a receiver designed to register the slightest sounds, and furnished, moreover, with a cluster of electric lights, which might astonish the fish into the utterance of such sounds as they are accustomed to make to express surprise or bewilderment! After various attempts, the zealous scientist succeeded in obtaining records of the voices of several marine creatures. They are believed to be all sounds indicating surprise, the most remarkable being “a note of astonishment from a shark-”

An ingenious arrangement has been made by the German military and naval authorities whereby the soldiers and sailors in China may telegraph news home to their friends at little cost. A sort of code is constructed, containing a hundred sentences, of the kind most likely to be required as messages, and every sentence has a number of its own. Each man has also a registered number, signifying his name and the address of his family or friend, xnese messages are sent home in batches, and distributed to their addresses. By the ordinary telegraph every word coining from China costs six shillings,, so it may be imagined what a boon this very simple and considleratd plan is to all concerned. The name-number and 1 message-number ara combined, and count as one, so a man may send a message as, “Shall be discharged in a few days from the hospital cnrUd,’’ and adding "the address of the recipient and his own name, all for the cost of a single word 1 ‘ Postcards are also issued of a special kind at the nominal cost of one halfpenny for ten, and the address side is so printed that the sender cannot very well maker a mistake in addressing his or her card for :the friend out in China. After all. there-is something .to be said for the; methods of a “paternal government!’.’

Land is far too valuable a commodity in England to permit us to look for an extension of game preserves within' its borders. ' Scotland has, great resources, but, notwithstanding grdat expenditure, the supply in that country is not equal to .the demand. Ireland, on the contrary, has tens of thousands of acres in Donegal, Connemara, Cork, and Kerry, not to speak of smaller areas elsewhere, ■affording splendid facilities for sport. Game is’at present- sadly deficient in quantity; and, owing to causes known to all, it is hopeless to expect the landowners to stock and. properly 1 preserve their moors. Properly treated, they would - harbour immense .quantities of game; and abundant sport would attract men of means to the country, would lead to the' expenditure of a good deal of money, and would give employment to many; an idle rustic. Considering the favourable change in tne condition of things- in Ireland; and its rising popularity as a tourist resort, we may perhaps hope that there is a future before it for sport; and that it will in time bo able to meet the ever-increasing demands of English sportsmen, which even Elizabethan conditions at home would be barely sufficient to supply.—“'Quarterly Review.”

Not long ago a French reporter encountered in a little' village of the South of France a gardener, who* wore, pinned on his clean Sunday blouse, the ribbon of the Legion of Honour. Naturally, the newspaper man desired to know how he got it. The gardener, who, like many of his trade, .seemed to be a silent man, was averse to meeting an old and wearisome demand, but finally he .began—“Oh, I don’t know how I did get it ! I was at Bazeilles with the rest of tho battery. All the officers were killed; then' down went all the non-coriimissioned officers. Bang! bang! bang! By and by all the soldiers were down but met' I; had fired the last shot, ■and naturally was doing what I could to keep off the Bavarians. Well, a General came, and says he, ‘Where’s your officers?’ ‘All down,’ says I. ‘Where’s your gunners?’ says he.' ‘All clown) but me,’ says I. ‘And you’ve, been fighting hero all alone?’ says he. ‘I couldn’t let ’em come and get the guns, could IP’ I says; and then he up and put, this ribbon on me, probably Oecause' there was nobody else there to put it on.” ♦ « * * »

“No, am not going out in the evenings just now to anything but strictly informal affairs,” said 'the young man sadly. “Why? Well, because at present I’m not the possessor of a dress suit, and lack the wherewithal to purchase another. It hapnenedi this way. I had a friend, a good fellow, who came to me one night and asked me if I would lend him my swallow-tail. I consented, but I told him I wanted the clothes back the next week, as I had a function to attend myself. Well, to make a long story short, the week went by, and not a word from my friend and not a sign of my clothes. I had to miss my date, and;was .pretty mad, but I didn’t say anything. Another week went by, andstill no word. Then I decided to go and hunt him up and find out if he intended to keep ray garments'for ever. I called at his lodgings and rang the bell. His landlady 1 oame to the door. When I asked if my friend was in she gave a

and buried?’ It was mv turn to be knocked out. After I recovered my breath I etxplained that I had not heard the news, and had merely called to take back my dress-suit. It would doubtless bo found among my friend’s eifocts, t said. The landlady turned pink, white, and then pink again. ‘Why? she gasped, 'tliat must have been the suit we buried him in. It was the only good one wo found among his wardrobe? ’' * # # ?!• #

More telegram stories! Lord Curxon is not the only man who has received a telegram which baffled explanation. Sir E. H. Wittenoom, the Agent-Genera! for Western Australia in London, toils a singular story of a message once received by the Governor of the colony which he represents. Twelve years ago gold was discovered at. Mallina tiirougha boy, who picked up a stone to throw at a crow. The lad observed a speck of geld in the stone, and did not tnrow it at the crow, taking it to the nearest magistrate instead. The magistrate was so excited that ho at onco despatched a telegram to the Governor, saying that gold in tho stone, and did not tnrow •! a crow, but forgetting to’ add that “he saw gold in it.” The Governor was puzzled, and telegraphed back to the magistrate; “What happened to tho crow ?”

Juries have more than once added 1 to the gaiety of cities by their curious verdicts. A Welsh coroner not long ago recorded a verdict on the death of a woman that she “fell into the Glamorganshire Canal, whereby she didd, and being of unsound mind, did kill herself.’’ A Leicester jury was even more inexplicable. It returned a verdict, of “wilful murder” against-a man, but added a rider to the effect that the jury did, not believe he intended to kill the victim. But both these “good twelves and true’’ must give first place to the jury which arrived at an amazing decision in a case of damages for negligence. The jury found that a man fell downstairs in the dark, but agreed that the darkness was not due to the defendant’s negligence. The plaintiff was,, nevertheless, awarded £5, and it was suggested that tho employer should erect a notice warning persons against falling down the stairs—presumably in the dark. • * * a #

The Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince and a numbelr of other German Princes’ were present recently at Berlin Arsenal at the nailing on and consecration of 64 colours, to be presented to various Prussian regiments, including the colours for the battalions proceteding to vffiina. For the first time within recent vears the Kaiser carried a Field Marshal’s baton, covered with yellow velvet and embroidered with black eagles and precious stones. The Kaiser drove in the first nail of the new- flag to be presented to the principal cadet academy, the Kaiserin followed, then the Crown Prince, and then the other Princes, gettierals and sujordinate officers, down to the colour-ser-geant. The consecration service! was of the usual kind, the address of the Court Chaplain being perhaps a trifle more- florid than was consistent with good taste. Alluding to the Chinese expedition, he s<iid it was a Crusade, a holy war, “God is with ns; we are with God,” said the chaplain, ‘‘we shall attain to victory.’’ After the consecration service the Te Deum was played by the bands.

The Daitch Constitution does not provide any settlement for a Prince Cansort, but it is understood (says the ’‘World”) that the financial question is not to come before the Chambers in connection with the Queen’s marriage, as Duke Henry will not receive any income from the country. QueeiiL’ Wilhelmina proposes that -a sum of 20,000,000 marks should be taken out of her private fortune and given over to trustees, who will pay the interest to her imsband. The moneiy will be so settled as to place the income at the disposal of for bis life, after which the capital is to pass to the yonflger children of the marriage, and ; in default of such issue, the money will revftrt to the Crow'n. This arrangement will give the future Prince Consort an income of about £30,000 a year, which, it will he remembered, was the amount settled upon Prince Albert in IS4O.

A story is told of an American Volunteer officer, who had his home in a small town near the) Mississippi River, and who had been, chosen to command the, local company because of his political influence. The ladies of his town had organised a Red Cross Auxiliafy Society, and among, their contributions to the comfort ot their absent heroes was a case of home-made pyjamas. The box containing these was sent into camp, but no. acknowledgement of its receipt was returned. So the good ladies telegraphed : —-“Anxious to know if you got the pyjamas last week.” i\ow the' captain had been sitting up with the boys the night before, and when the despatch was handed him he was trying to reduce his swollen head with a wet towel, and his mind was somewhat confused. Sc, the ladies of the relief society were astonished by the receipt of this despatch ; “Story is a lie out of- whole cloth, probably made up by my enemies to ruin me politically. Admit, am not a total abstainer, but never had the pyjamas last week or at any other time.” * • * * •

It is bno of Mr Chamberlain’s characteristics that he never wears a collar a second time. They are not sent to the wash, but simply discarded. His voyage to Malta, therefore (writes a correspondent of the “Free Lance”), may be said to be marked by a foam, as it were, of rejected collars in his wake. It is not generally known that this particular voyage is merely a variant of the regular autumn tour which Mr Chamberlain has taken every year for at least thirty years. He used at one time to travel with Mr Jesse Collins. Since his last marriage his wife has been his companion. Once they took a tour in Spain and Mr Chamberlian says that he was struck both by the extraordinary obsequiousness of the .natives, and the monstrous nature of the bills. At last, at one place, he was met on his arrival by a procession headed by the mayor and priest, who rend an address. Then Mr Chamberlain said to his courier, “There is something wrong. Find out who they take me for.” After a while the courier came back with the information that it was supposed that Mr Chamberlain was the Prince of Wales incog., and the charges had been raised accordingly. It seems that a local paper had announced that the Prince of Wales was coming. Therefore, when the landlords saw the name Chamberlain on the luggage, they said, “Of course, the Royal Chamberlain would nave charge of the luggage. Manifestly, this is the Prince of Wales.”

During an action recently hoard by the Lord Chief Justice, counsel stated that the profits on the farcical comedy “Charley’s Aunt” had exceeded £IOO,000, and that a Mr imrdman, who advanced £BOO for the production of the play, had been paid upwards of £30,000 for liis share of the profits. *»» * - *

. It is not only Americans who joke. Recently, it was announced in London that Dr Joseph, Parker, the eminent divine, was going to edit the “Sun” newspaper for one we'ek on Christian lines. This, which Is correct, was followed by the statement that he had asked Mr George Edwardesp the “Gaiety” manager, to attend to the theatrical column.

i-u> was caught on his return Irom a trip to Paris, fir Edwardes did not gratify tin* curiosity of the interviewers, Inu sen. a short note to Dr Parker declining, for obvious reasons, a responsibility that did not fit in with theatrical management. Now comes out the joke. The .urerviewers went, to Dr Parker, who was amazed. "I never sent such a letter.'' he declamt ".Mr George Edward os ? Whv, I never heard of him! I was astounded.” he continued, ■“’When I saw the headlines in the morning papers. I was more astounded still when I received a letter from Mr George Edwardos acknowledging my courteous letter,. *and regretting that he was unable to comply with my courteous request I sent it back to him at once, stating that. I did not know what it meant.” When the M.S. was examined it was found that pome mischievous person, had very cleverly copied Dr Parker’s signature.

A writer in the “Leisure Hour” for January tells us who Robin Adair was, but confesses that it is now impossible to say who wrote the song that has made Robin Adair immortal . The tradition that Lady Caroline Keppol was the author has‘long been given m as without basis, neither did Robin marry a daughter of the house of Albermarlo. But Robin Adair was a real person, the descendent of a very ancient Irish, and for a time, Scottish, family. About 1388, Robert Fitzgerald, son o'# the Karl of Desmond, and owner of the lands of Adaro in Ireland, settled in Galway and took the name of Rohm Adare. His family became the heirs of Kilhilt. An Archibald Adair of this family came to Ireland in 1630, and became Bishop if Killala, and afterwards of Waterford; lie died in 1647. He was the direct ancestor of Robin Adair of Hollybrooke. Robin Adair died in 1737. His daughter Eleanor married William Hodson, of Old Court. The son of this marriage was Sir William Hodson (bom in 174?' and he married his cousin Anne, the only daughter of Forster Adair, of Hollyhrooke. Thus the Adair property at Hollybrooke came into the possession of the Hodson family, who still hold it. Bub why or when the song was written and who wrote it is a mystery. Testimony of its popularity in Ireland is borne by M. de Latoenaye. a French loyalist who visited the country in 1796. Describing Hollybrooke, he says : —“lt is in this house that there lived that Robert Adair, so famous'in a number of songs in Scotland and Ireland. I have seen his portrait; he is the ancestor of Lord Molesworfch and of Sir Robert Hodson, to whom Hollybrooke belongs.’’ Burns fitted new words to the air (originally “Eileen Aron”) in 1783. The popularity of “Robin Adair” dates from 1811, when the famous singer Brnham introduced it to public notice.

A literary man’s name, though it may bo known the world over, does not always prove an open sesame. Sir Wemyss Reid, in an address to the Whitefriar’s Club on the Brontes, related how, in 1881, Bret Harte, an American consul and himself, visited Haworth to got a glimps& of Haworth Parsonage, the old home of the Bronte's. Before they started from Leeds a smart young man of the town, Mr M , made nimself an unwelcome guest, and formed one of the party 1 . Bret Harte was eager to go over the parsonage at Haworth, but Sir Wemyss, knowing the stubborn opposition of the vicar, warned him that it was no use trying. Bret Harte insisted. Sir w eniys.s lighted a cigar, and waited some way off while they besieged the parsonage. They stayed much longer than was necessary, but soon they upeared, and Sir Wemyss felt somewhat perturbed by the jubilant air of the youth. “Well,” said Sir Wemyss to him, “you didn’t get in, did you?” "Ob, yes,” replied the young man with alacrity, “I got in all right—was shown all over the place.” Observing Bret Harte’s dejected look. Sir Wemyss took his friend, the American, consul, on one side, and asked what had happened. “It’s just happened as you said it would,” he rejoined; '‘Bret was the spokesman for the party—told our business to the vicar—we were rebuffed by him, and when Bret handed his card to him with the remark that possibly the vicar knew his name, the vicar angrily said, ‘Oh, yes, I think I have seen it before, but that makes no difference/ Then Mr M spoke up. and explained that we had come a long way to look over the parsonage,'etc. At sight of him and his name, the maimer of the vicar changed. 'Mr m lie exclaimed, ‘not the son of Mr M , of the wealthy M and M— P Really. Why, Mr M , I’m delighted. Come right in.’ And that is how wo got entrance to the parsonage.”

In “By Land and Sky” (Ishister), a hook on ballooning, the Rev J. M. Bacon describes the effect that the sight of a passing balloon has on men avffl quadrupeds underneath. The most excitable creature is man. “I have seen a farmer, followed by his men, rush madly after a balloon across a field of staiivjig corn, causing reckless damage, and all without the smallest' occasion. I have, on reaching earth, had a man of seventy years come gasping up, his hand pressed hard over his heart, simply because for the life of him he couldn’t help running his hardest over the stubbles. though no one wanted him. l)r,'reappear to b© greatly affected; judging from the excited barking that constantly reaches one in a balloon. It would seem that they yelp at a balloon overhead much as they would bay at the moon. Birds are cowed, and lie close. Horses take alarm, while sheep will sometimes become so scared that thev bolt through a thick hedge. A*.jackass will become interested when it i had plenty of time to think the matter well out, but a cow ? Whether it feels any astonishment, I know not, but it declines to show any. We brushed close past a herd of them lying resting in the meadow that summei evening, but they simply lay still, ruminating the while as though it were no concern of theirs.” A writer in the “Pall Mali” Magazinte for January, describing life at Cape Nome, the shore gold field in Alaska, north, of the Yukon River, quotes some of the phrases that pass current among miners; The old-timer is called a “sour dough,” because the man who has been in this country some time knows better than to try to live on pancakes and “baking powder” biscuits lie makes honest bread, raised with yeast, and saves over a bit of the “sour dough” for his next baking. He is the experienced, level-headed fellow, and he is flattered when' you call him “Old Sour Dough.” He gets, perhaps, his best enjoyment out of his cheechaker miner, or the “scientilib expert.” These are scarcely less the butts of “sour dough” wit than the raw clerk or tourist, who s-teos off the barge that lands him, and before he loosens hole of his “grip sack” stoops and picks up a handful of surface sand, ex'Smines it and throws it clown indignantly. “1 don’t see any gold —the whole thing’s a fake/’ One of the current pieces of slang is to say of a newcomer. “He’ll have cold feet in a clay or two,” meaning he will lose heart. Of two men sitting side by side out on the tundra, seeming to perch on the edge of the world, a miner, looking up From liis rocker, says, “Case of cold feet eff yonder; they’re wondering which steamer they’ll take back.” * « * * Som© of the notable men in the House >f Commons are sketched by Mr .John Poster Fraser in the "Pall Mall Maga-

Chamberlain. “In talking he is pertinent, dogmatic, now and then vicious, sr.ow.ng ihat he has passion, although under complete control. His words arc ciear. inclined to be mellow; there is never an involved sentence. At the beginning of a speech he trifles with ins notes, neatly written on notepaper, and placed on the brass-bound chest at the corner of the table, and which bears a hundred dents inflicted by Mr Gladstone's ring. Mr Chamberlain runs Ins finger along the side of his notes, getting the edges straight. Then lie runs his ir.rie linger along top and bottom doing tlie same. As he unfolds a principle lie taps his left hand with the forefinger or hi- right. When explanatory, be taps his two hands together, with the lingers slightly apart. Then suddenly, like a ha sit of lightning—reaching a point involving Ids personal honour —then' is a quiver on the parchment face, a tightening of the lips, a narrowing of the eyes. He steps back an instant, grips the edge i.i rue chest, as though holding his pa s. in. and with a taunt, that somet. comes perilously near a sneer, he i nrows .ms hands from him as though he wire casting aside his opponent in contempt. No man has received such hard bievrs as Mr Chamberlain. No man can lot back so well, so witheringly, and make his foe on the opposite bench curl with vexation. Few care to ‘stand up to Joe.’ Only one man does so, and does it persistently. That is Mr Lloyd George, an excitable, tdeaming-eyed little Welshman. who finds joy in baiting jir t.n ... herlain, very much as i,ord Randolph Churchill found delight in baiting .vir Gladstone.”

Why should not the universal language be Irisht An address by the Cory Rev. J. T. Murphy, reported in the "Freeman’s Journal,” should convince us of its .suitability. Irish, said Father Murphy, was the language of God and of the scholar. There was no language so impressed with the great principle of Christianity. Irish was even more logical than Greek; it was char-

actoristio by its directness and its euphony. He advocated the use of Irish in business and in churches.

In dealing with the subject of the employment of pigeons in the carrying of the war despatches, the “United Service Gazette” is reminded, that the first extensive use of pigeons in war took place during the siege of Paris in 181U<1, when no fewer than 150,000 official despatches and a million private letters

\.-ere, according to French statistics, conveyed by pigeons over the investing lines into the city. The idea has since neon taken up and systematically developed by all the great continental Powers. In England only nothing has been done by the military authorities, although (says the “Gazette”) we arc promised a pigeon loft at Aldershot next spring. But, broadly .spoaldng, such a loft should exist, apart from any uiTangements for the employment of pigeons in the field, in every place which is ease of invasion may he surrounded by the enemy.

A hitherto unpublished story, an oeia of the hard fighting at Pieter's Hill, ma; lie told on the authority of a lately returned officer of the Innisldllings. Th . British and the Boers wore crouehim behind boulders scattered over a wid surface. The moment a. man on. cithe side emerged from his cover he was a once a target for the enemy’s bullets, j Boer, partly, it seemed, in bravado made a sudden sally to join a neighbour An Englishman, who had long watcho. the rock, and. was becoming sick wit! hope deferred, took aim and’ brough the daring one down. So- delighted wa he with his luck that he threw himso; on his back behind the shallow shelter o his boulder, and kicked his heels in fhi air. In his transport his heel-rose abovi the rock, a& he was instantly made a\vaj< by a hnlieb transfixing his fluff erin j ankle.e Apropos of the Nelson relics lateb stolen, an interesting memorial of t-hai time has just come into the possession of Mr Emanuel, The Hard, Portsea which was presented by -the Bank o; England to Commander Robert Tyte, o! her Majesty’s ship Glory, in “recognition of the services rendered by him to the public and to the Bank in the detection of French prisoners coiuwrned lithe fabrication and circulation of forget, bank notes, 1812.” On the other side off t-Ife vase, beneath the recipient’s ores; and motto, is the Order of the Crescent—the Turkish gold, medal of *lBOl. presented by Sultan Selim 111. to Commander Tyte, who, under Nelson, took part- in the naval operations of that year. | Mr Gumming Maodona, M.P., England, is said to intend the introduction of a Bill compelling a foreigner, before marryiug. to obtain a- Consular certificate to the effect- that the contemplated ceremony will moot the legal requirements of his national law. The result of such an enactment would probably be that no foreigner could be married in Great Britain at all; for foreign nations would be almost sure to prohibit their officials from issuing such "certificates. Consuls are not expected to bo authorities on such matters ; and, their intervention might give a' false sense of security, which the same result might rudely dispel. United States Consuls, for instance, whose country has about fifty different sets of laws as to marriage and divorce—how could they issue a certificate which would be worth the paper it was written on ? Their regulations already prohibit- their certnying that a fellow citizen is free to marry. Homoeopathy, which was a fashionable craze in the middle of th© century, when a leading exponent was mercilessly caricatured in “My Novel,” appears still to flourish in Nonconformist- circles. In the report of a special religious service a suburban paper states that, “owing to the pastor’s severe cold, the first part of the service was conducted by one of the deacons, Mr Frost.” ***** There has of late been anxiety in Paris as to the absolute safety of the Louvre, which is a matter of world-wide interest. The Colonial Office adjoining is of somewhat flimsy material : hut inquiries ore on the whole, quite reassuring. A staff of twelve watchmen is constantly employed, and the director, secretary, two chief 1 custodians, with a, plumber and skilled mechanic for the flues, reside on the. premises. In fact, it is thought that danger threatens from water rather than from fire, a.s there are 200 taps constantly under pressure, and a pipe breaking might- do serious damage. There has been no fire in the Louvre since February 1661, and this although many persons have resided in the building, some of them of very irregular habits. * * * * * The most popular Christmas carol of the day is “Hark, the herald angels -sing,” the words of which are by the Rev. Charles Wesley. Yearn ago it was sung to the tune of “See. the conquering hero comes,” but Mendelssohn's tune is now preferred to Handel’s. Mendelssohn, however, never intended the air for this hymn; it was written for the Gutenberg Festival of 1840, held at Leipzig, and in after years he said it would never do “for sacred words.” Nevertheless, in 18-36 Dr (then Mr) W. H. Cummings arranged tie melody as it is now sung, and to him must- be gif-n the honour of having happily “appropriated” a tune which is well known i»ow ■ throughout th® British Empire. I